Delivered by the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN, H.E. Mr Sven Jürgenson
Madame President,
I thank the Prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda for her thirty-first report and for her excellent briefing to this Council today.
Let me start by reaffirming Estonia’s commitment to promoting respect for international law and rules-based international order and express our full confidence in the Court as an independent and impartial judicial institution. In this light, we further reaffirm our strong support to the work of the ICC and its Prosecutor. When implementing its mandate the Court has a particular role of eliminating impunity and ensuring justice for the victims for the crimes enshrined in the Rome Statute without impediments.
Madame President,
As of yesterday, the former fugitive Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”) is in the custody of the ICC after surrendering himself voluntarily in the Central African Republic. This is an important step in the pursuit of justice for the crimes committed in Darfur. We join the Court in thanking the Central African Republic, France, Chad, the Netherlands and MINUSCA for their support in securing the arrest, surrender and transfer of Mr. Kushayb to the Court.
I will now turn to the situation of Sudan. We have followed with interest the positive developments in the Sudan, in particular in relation to the peace process and hope that it can concluded by 20 June 2020. However, peace cannot be achieved without justice. This is why we to call on the authorities to extend their meaningful cooperation towards the ICC.
It is also important to ensure that every effort is made to prevent further violations on the ground. Estonia condemns and calls for the cessation of all acts of violence that unfortunately continue to be perpetrated in 2020 in Sudan, including in the Darfur region. We are particularly concerned about incidents of sexual and gender-based violence against women. We further join the Office of the Prosecutor in condemning attacks against humanitarian aid workers in Darfur. This is not a path towards sustainable peace.
At the same time, we welcome Sudan’s commitment to assume full responsibility for the protection civilians. We hope that UNAMID as well as UNITAMS will be seen as useful allies by the authiroties in helping to build the necessary capacities to provide civilians full protection.
Madame President,
I now turn to the role of complementarity of the Court. According to the Prosecutor’s report there is currently no information available whereby any of the ICC suspects held in the custody of the Sudanese authorities, including Mr Al-Bashir, would be subject to domestic investigation or prosecution for the particular grave crimes alleged in the respective ICC warrants. As the ICC warrants remain in force, we call upon all states to fully engage and cooperate with the ICC for the arrest and surrender to the Hague of the now four remaining suspects.
Madame President,
We see time and time again that in any peace process, the rebuilding of a resilient society needs to include the elimination of impunity.
Six months ago, in December 2019, the Prosecutor expressed hope that in the near future her Office would be granted access to the Sudan to facilitate their work and discuss the way forward. According to the clarification provided in the latest report from end of May, the Office had not been able to access the territory of Sudan to conduct investigations in the Darfur situation since 2007, precluding the Office from obtaining access to crime scenes, victims and witnesses, as well as documentary, judicial and forensic evidence.
Thus, while wholeheartedly welcoming Sudan’s steps taken on the national level to begin to implement accountability, we call on the authorities to extend their full cooperation towards the ICC in all necessary matters. We hope that the events of yesterday will mark the beginning of a new dialogue between the Sudanese authorities and the Court that is prerequisite for any meaningful path to justice and accountability that the victims still crave for and deserve.
Thank you.
