Transcending the double-bind of humanitarian intervention: The costs of action and inaction

Abstract

“The ICC [International Criminal Court] is dead to us,” claimed US National Security Advisor John Bolton on Monday 10 September 2018 when he confirmed that the US would not cooperate with any efforts to bring US soldiers to trial for atrocities committed in Afghanistan.1 Bolton’s statement coincides with a recent ruling from the pre-trial chamber of the ICC that determined jurisdiction for some of the atrocities committed by the Myanmar regime against the Rohingya population that were deported to Bangladesh in late 2017. Limited by the fact that the ICC only has jurisdiction in Bangladesh as a member to the Rome Statue, and therefore cannot prosecute crimes committed solely in Myanmar, the ruling at least creates an inroad for accountability by determining the commission of atrocities and attributing blame. A UN Security Council referral is needed to extend the jurisdiction of the ICC to Myanmar – a referral that is inconceivable at this current historical juncture where the US, but also China and Russia that are needed to support the referral, have opposed such a move. Once again, power politics trumps international justice for crimes against humanity. Show more