“Peace versus Justice; it is an old question for prosecutors at the International Criminal Court and one they are hearing all over again as they plunge into investigations in Libya and Ivory Coast.
“What price stability, the argument goes, if the new leaders find themselves in the ICC crosshairs? Peace, in other words, trumps justice. It is a short term solution, but it is the wrong one, and not just on moral grounds
“The real reason to back the ICC is practical. African history is littered with cases of rebels deposing tyrants only to become tyrants themselves; for the ordinary people, the cap badges of their oppressors may change but the suffering remains the same.
“[The ICC can] call those committing abuses to account. In so doing, it can encourage other tyrants across the world to think twice before committing abuses of their own.
“Justice can be the cement that binds the new leaders of both Ivory Coast and Libya into a framework where abuses and murder are no longer tolerated. And where justice is in fact the glue that binds any long term peace.”
- Christopher Stephen, author of ‘Judgement Day: The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic’. See his comment in the Financial Times here
