No, I am not referring to bankers. I'm speaking of the International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war crimes charges. Bashir is a force of evil in the world. His leadership has directly contributed to the suffering, murder, and genocide of millions. He deserves the most severe penalties we can in good conscience apply.

But this indictment will not bring Bashir to justice. It will not remove him from office. It will not help those suffering in Darfur. Quite the contrary. Since the indictment, Bashir has closed or expelled 16 local and foreign agencies in retaliation, agencies which provided about half of all aid to the suffering refugees of Darfur. The expulsions have worsened an already catastrophic situation. With less access to food and medicine and with the abrupt ending of a meningitis immunization campaign, many Darfurians will likely starve and die from disease. This suffering is not the Criminal Court's fault--Bashir bears all the blame--but it is a consequence of the court's action, and it is a shocking example of prioritizing principle over pragmatism, of valuing justice for one man over the suffering of millions.

In a display of callous and unconscionable naivety, the the court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, declared,

"The Sudan has to find the way to arrest Bashir and stop the crimes; that is the best way."

But without any mechanism to enforce the indictment, the court's action offers no incentive to the Sudanese to rid themselves of their tyrant. Rather, it will encourage Bashir and his deputies to hold on to power at all costs, for now Bashir cannot relinquish power without risk of prison or death, and he no longer has anything to lose by initiating even more repressive action.

One might argue that Bashir must be prosecuted to deter him and other tyrants from more heinous crimes in the future, but there is no evidence that the threat of criminal charges offers a deterrent against war crimes. Despots like Bashir plan to hold onto power for life, so they do not expect to ever have to appear before the International Court. Penalty without enforcement does not stop crime.

If the court should ever gain the power to enforce indictments of sitting leaders, then criminal prosecution will serve a worthy purpose. If Bashir someday relinquishes power, and the court has the opportunity to try him, then it should do so. But until then, the court's indictment is only a symbolic gesture that contributes little to the world and causes innocent people much suffering. For that reason, we are obliged to condemn it.

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Cross posted at dagblog.com. You can subscribe to all my posts via RSS feed or email.