War crimes. Why no indictments?

[CyberStranger]

The current conflict in Sudan which started in April 2023 is arguably on another level to the conflict in Gaza (not that it’s a competition).

More than 150,000 civilian deaths, 8.8 million people displaced and 3.5 million have fled. 50,000 people reported missing.

700,000 children are starving with 522,000 believed to have already died from starvation, and 25 million people are experiencing extreme hunger.

80% of hospitals in conflict areas are out of service and there are outbreaks of disease all over the country.

On 7 January 2025, the United States said it had determined that the RSF and allied militias committed genocide.

The UK government, witnesses and other observers described the violence in the region as tantamount to ethnic cleansing or even genocide with non-Arab groups such as the Masalit being the primary victims. Mujeebelrahman Yagoub, Assistant Commissioner for Refugees in West Darfur called the violence worse than the War in Darfur in 2003 and the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

On 11 July 2025, (2 years and 3 months after the war started), the ICC reported to the United Nations Security Council that war crimes and crimes against humanity are currently being committed in Sudan's Darfur region, including a severe humanitarian crisis with over 30 million people in need, amid the ongoing conflict.

As yet no war crime indictments have been issued and it has taken over 2 years for the ICC to report that they are being committed.

It was 6 and a half months from Oct 7th 2023 to May 20th 2024 when the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for suspected war crimes in Gaza.

Does anyone see an anomaly here?

Yes,
Sudan is not a party to the Rome statute so the ICC has no jurisdiction. The only way an ICC investigation and indictments can happen is if the UNSC passes a resolution for a special investigation, that is then referred to the ICC prosecutor. This has happened with prior Sudan civil wars and is in process for this one too.

Palestine is a party to the Rome statute, so any war crimes that happen in the Occupied Palestinian Territories fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC. However, it took 10 years for Palestine to be able to get the ICJ ruling (2014 to 2024) that they could submit evidence of war crimes.

The specific Gaza war crimes in the arrest warrants issued for Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu date from 2014 to 2024 - covering past conflicts in Gaza as well as the current war.

Not that it makes any difference anyway.

Agree, the Sudanese president al-Bashir who was doing war crimes sincd 2002, indicted by ICC in 2009, had two arrest warrants issued, but kept ruling for ten more years until 2019 and is still “at large” today.

This is an interesting article about why the ICC has been so quiet about Sudan.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/7/13/why-is-the-international-criminal-court-so-silent-on-sudan

Essentially it says that it may be hoping that they will give Al-Bashir up or that focus may have been diverted to Ukraine.

It is truely horrible what has been allowed to happen in Sudan. Disgusting.

I dont think though that it should be used to provide an example to minimise focus or excuse what is happening elsewhere.

Israel is also not a party to the Rome Statute.

No, but Palestine is and hence the court assumed jurisdiction over crimes committed on its territory.

As for Sudan: notably there was also an ICJ case brought by Sudan against the United Arab Emirates re. breaches of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, namely over UAE support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The court dismissed this earlier this year on the grounds of a lack of jurisdiction; specifically: because the UAE, while party to the convention, has a long-standing reservation to Article IX.

On the ICC, it should also be noted that many of its investigations and even arrest warrants are not made public, so technically you we cannot exactly know what is in the works. Complimentarity might be somewhat of an issue here (but not necessarily).

In any case: the Situation is horrifying.