So, last week was the fortieth anniversary of the infamous War on Drugs. The internet was abuzz with people talking about all sorts of aspects of how much of a failure it’s been. Instead of giving anything anecdotal or analytical, I figured I’d just share one of the most effective infographics I’ve seen on it, via Colorlines:
So, this weekend I’ve holed up in front of my computer, wrapping up my paper on the United States and the International Criminal Court. After spending weeks with piecemeal research and months of hypothesizing, I’m putting everything on paper (once it’s printed). My paper starts with an introduction to the ICC, followed by page after page of American grievances. I’ve talked about Clinton and Bush, and I am just working on the supposed lane-change of the Obama administration. I’m gathering research on the review conference from this summer.
My thesis: despite the near-fact that the U.S. will not be joining the Rome Statute, the Obama administration should embrace the ICC by working alongside the Court and acknowledging its usefulness.
Yesterday, the Obama administration did just that.
Time to re-work my thesis.
This is Uganda-related, but not related to my presence here. Starting this passed Monday, a two-week conference is going on in Kampala. The International Criminal Court has called a meeting to review and amend the Rome Statute. This has a lot of ramifications around the world, even in non-member states like the U.S.
Importantly, President Museveni spoke at the conference and called for a method of provisional immunity. This comes straight from the villages of northern Uganda (and South Sudan, eastern DRC and CAR) where perhaps the only thing between Africa’s current longest-running war and peace was Joseph Kony’s indictment for war crimes. This would be a game-changer in a lot of different fields as far as having a chance to achieve peace sooner and can be very important. The review is also trying to find ways to increase the involvement of states and narrow the amount of impunity.
The important thing, though, is the two tracks of the review conference. The conference will take stock of how the ICC has been operating and decide how to move forwards to make the court work better as well as consider amendments. The big whopper is making decisions regarding wars of aggression. If the definition of “war of aggression” is added to the statute then things like Israel’s attack on the Gaza flotilla and America’s use of drones might become deemed as war crimes through the use of pre-emptive strikes. So keep an eye out.
Scott Ross 