South Africa Has An Irrefutable Legal Obligation To Arrest And Transfer Al Bashir To The ICC, Says Mark Ellis

The Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA) Mark Ellis said today in relation to current events surrounding Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and South Africa:

"As a State Party to the ICC's Rome Statue, South Africa has an irrefutable legal obligation to arrest and transfer Al Bashir to the ICC. Too often, State Parties have refused to take action against Al Bashir, allowing him to remain at liberty for over six years since first being indicted by the ICC. South Africa now has an opportunity to reverse this trend and to prove to the world its unequivocal support for justice and accountability."

Dr Ellis is an international law expert and on the List of Assistants to Counsel of the International Criminal Court.

The IBA – the global voice of the legal profession – is the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies.

The International Bar Association (IBA), established in 1947, is the world’s leading

organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Through its global membership of individual lawyers, law firms, bar associations and law societies it influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world.

The IBA’s administrative office is in London. Regional offices are located in: São Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; and Washington, DC, US, while the International Bar Association’s International Criminal Court Programme (IBA ICC) is managed from an office in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) works to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.