Sudan files case against UAE at the ICJ over ‘complicity in genocide’

Sub :IR

Sec: Int org

Context:

Sudan has filed a case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of violating the Genocide Convention by supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in ethnic attacks on the Masalit tribe in West Darfur in 2023.

The Darfur Crisis:

The Darfur region of Sudan has been the site of severe violence since 2003, with the Sudanese government and affiliated militia groups, including the RSF, accused of perpetrating atrocities against ethnic groups such as the Masalit, Fur, and Zaghawa.

Rapid Support Forces (RSF):

The RSF, a paramilitary group originally formed from militia groups, has been accused of committing widespread atrocities, including mass killings, sexual violence, and the displacement of communities in Darfur.
Sudan alleges that the UAE has provided financial, logistical, and military support to the RSF, which escalated the violence against the Masalit community.

About Masalit community:

The Masalit are an ethnic group residing primarily in the western region of Sudan’s Darfur and eastern Chad. Traditionally, the Masalit trace their origins to Tunisia, migrating through Chad before settling in the Darfur region of Sudan.
They speak the Masalit language, which belongs to the Maban language group of the Nilo-Saharan language family.
Their religious practices are predominantly Sunni Islam.
The Masalit are primarily subsistence agriculturalists, cultivating crops such as peanuts, millet, and sorghum.

About ICJ:

The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).
It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nationsand began work in April 1946. The ICJ is based at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
It is the only one of the six principal organs of the UN that is not located in New York City.
The ICJ has 15 judges who are elected to nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, which vote simultaneously but separately.
The ICJ is tasked with resolving disputes between states based on international law.

Jurisdiction of ICJ:

All members of the UN are automatically parties to the ICJ statute, but this does not automatically give the ICJ jurisdiction over disputes involving them.
The ICJ gets jurisdiction only if both parties consent to it.
The judgment of the ICJ is final and technically binding on the parties to a case.
There is no provision of appeal; it can at the most, be subject to interpretation or, upon the discovery of a new fact, revision.
However, the ICJ has no way to ensure compliance of its orders, and its authority is derived from the willingness of countries to abide by them.

The Genocide Convention:

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to enforce its prohibition.
It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948.
The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 152 state parties.
The Genocide Convention was conceived largely in response to World War II, which saw atrocities such as the Holocaust that lacked an adequate description or legal definition.
The Convention defines genocide as an ‘intentional effort to completely or partially destroy a group based on its nationality, ethnicity, race, or religion.