{{ As the International Criminal Court ( ICC) faces increasing challenges in pursuing prosecutions, there are few signs that global powers will step up and give the institution the political backing it needs.}}<\/p>\n
Since beginning its work in 2002, the ICC has struggled to apprehend high-profile fugitives like Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who is charged with genocide in Darfur.<\/p>\n
In two ongoing cases in Kenya, the court has found it hard to secure cooperation from the government as it seeks to prosecute President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.<\/p>\n
In the Sudan case, judges in The Hague recently called on the United Nations Security Council to take action against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because the authorities there failed to arrest Bashir while he was in that country.<\/p>\n
In their April 9 decision, judges warned that efforts to deliver justice would be in vain if the ICC did not get the necessary backing from the Security Council, the body that referred the Darfur conflict to the court in 2005.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is no follow-up action on the part of the Security Council, any referral by the Council to the ICC\u2026 would never achieve its ultimate goal, namely, to put an end to impunity,\u201d judges warned in a written decision. \u201cAccordingly, any such referral would become futile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly before issuing this decision, the ICC also threatened to refer Kenya to the court\u2019s 122 signatory states \u2013 known collectively as the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) \u2013 if the government failed to cooperate. However, it is unclear what states could actually do in this eventuality, since the ICC\u2019s Rome Statute does not outline particular actions and the ASP cannot impose sanctions.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants the Kenyan authorities to hand her Kenyatta\u2019s financial records which she hopes will support charges that he bankrolled ethnic violence six years ago.<\/p>\n
Kenyatta and Ruto are charged in two separate ICC cases with orchestrating the two months of bloodshed that followed Kenya\u2019s polls in December 2007. A third defendant, Joshua Arap Sang, is on trial in the same case as Ruto.<\/p>\n
In a decision issued on March 31, judges delayed the start of Kenyatta\u2019s trial until October 7 in order to give the Kenyan authorities a further opportunity to hand over evidence.<\/p>\n
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