ICC: The real kangaroo court stands up

30 years ago, a chain of events would unfold, altering the nature, or rather the treatment, of geopolitics forever.

Juvénal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu politician from Rwanda, was travelling on his private Falcon 50 jet on a balmy evening on 6 April 1994. 

Hebyarimana – nicknamed Kinani, meaning invincible – had just been sworn in as the interim president in January, months after he had brokered the Arusha Records, a peace agreement between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi. 

Just as his jet neared the Kigali International Airport, it was shot down. The invincible one was killed, along with Cyprien Ntaryamira, the president of Burundi, and few others. The plane crashed on the grounds of the presidential palace. 

Immediately following his death, a genocide spread against Tutsi by extremists from the majority Hutus, who also ensured the blood of their own kin who favoured the peace agreement.     

In what is known as the Rwandan Genocide, 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsi deaths followed in 100 days of onslaught. 

Following an international outcry, the United Nations Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which eventually indicted 92 individuals. 

By the time the ICTR was formed, a similar one had been established for the former Yugoslavia. More such tribunals emerged, owing to the success of their predecessor, all culminating in the establishment of the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). 

The ICC was armed with the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. 

The United States, China and Russia, the most important members of the UN Security Council, however, chose not to submit to the ICC's mandate. 

And so began the extraction of the ICC's teeth. 

The ICC's failures are glaring. It only takes a quick scan of the individuals it has indicted since its formation back in 2002. 

It has so far looked at 14 "situations" in Afghanistan; Burundi; two in the Central African Republic; Côte d'Ivoire; Darfur, Sudan; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Georgia; Kenya; Libya; Mali; Uganda; Bangladesh/Myanmar, Palestine and Venezuela. 

It has also publicly indicted 54 people. With the exception of Vladimir Putin – indicted last year – the list has only five other Europeans. The remaining are mostly from Africa. 

This isn't through a lack of trying. 

In 2020, the ICC announced an investigation into potential war crimes and crimes against humanity commited during the invasion of Afghanistan post 9/11. 

The US government immediately imposed political and economic sanctions on then ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and her staff. The case never proceeded since then. 

Belgium, which successfully used the ICC's universal jurisdiction to inquire into crimes of foreigners, hit a brick wall, however, when it opened an investigation against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. 

It also complained about alleged war crimes in Iraq, which was met with then US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threatening Belgium about revoking its status as host to NATO's headquarters. 

Even in Gaza, where Israel commits a genocide everyday, the ICC can only watch and wring its hands.

It could do little for Ukraine. For the Rohingyas, victim of yet another genocide, the ICC, alongside the ICJ and the UN itself could only send out strongly-worded statements and pat themselves on the back.  

It's clear that this body, formed for the "cause of all humanity" actually makes decisions on a pick and choose basis, all realism tempered by political interest of countries with clout. 

While Westerners are quick to emphasise the lack of a free and fair judicial process in countries they deem inferior to them, it is the same people who undermine the judicial process on a global scale. 

Today, the ICC stands not for justice but as yet another institute formed for colonising and imperialist forces to continue putting up a pretense of fairness and democracy. It is a kangaroo, but one that lacks both a punch or any teeth.