Gaddafi might have been arrested by now if the ICC's warrant had been sealed | Alison Cole

The International Criminal Court was right to issue an arrest warrant, but should have looked at past successes with the label

The recent decision

Muammar Gaddafi to discuss the question arose whether the transition to peace is helped or hindered by the public arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) . Although not being the value of "name and shame" leaders accused of mass atrocities, protect the confidentiality of charges through the sealed arrest warrants may ultimately facilitate better implementation of international justice .

The accusation of leaders like Gaddafi is inserted into the "peace against justice" debate. On the one hand, the pursuit of justice is presented as an obvious obstacle to peace, for no leader rational power is negotiated and a courtroom.

other hand, argues that there can be no sustainable peace if justice does not stay the hand of vengeance. An intermediate position argues that the two concepts can coexist if the requirements of justice are arranged in a way that gives priority to the immediate needs of realpolitik compromises, such as amnesty or exile, at least until it becomes politically expedient to implement the responsibility.

Although he never be a correct answer, especially given the various complicated circumstances of a particular case, how was issued an international arrest warrant can be a great impact on this "peace against justice" dynamic.

an international arrest warrant public, as in the case of Gaddafi, seems to create a confrontation between justice and politics. However, by definition, international justice is not negotiable. As with any legal system, the International Criminal Court as a bastion of international justice can not be regarded as a legal institution that, once invoked, can be ignored. The problem is that the defendant remains a leader in power, the current configuration of our international system leading international actors of the leading defendants to implement many complex aspects of conflict resolution. This results in situations such as the appointment of Sudan to the ICC Ahmad Muhammad Harun suspect in the forefront of humanitarian operations in the region, which requires coordination between the wanted war crimes suspects and relief agencies, including the United Nations.

However, a warrant issued under the seal is not disclosed to the public. It is accessible only to persons authorized by the court, usually national teams of law enforcement that the court relies on the application of the arrests, because it does not have its own police force. A person named in the warrant is not that he knows where she is wanted by the ICC and is less likely to implement measures to avoid capture. This confidential process thus allows greater maneuverability in tracking suspects and planning a strategy of detention.

• Although it may be too late to do this against Gaddafi, a review of past practice, since the International Criminal Court began operations in 2002, shows that the warrants were sealed very successful in obtaining transfers. In all cases where arrests have been obtained, the warrants were first issued under the seal of weeks or months, and then revealed and made public the day of arrest. Cases in which arrests were made successfully in this way focused on three militia leaders arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo and two Congolese militia leaders who were arrested in Belgium and Germany.
other defendants in the Congo and the three accused in the Uganda situation, arrest warrants were also originally issued under seal and unsealed a few months later, despite these arrests are not yet implemented. For the three defendants in the case of Darfur, who have voluntarily submitted to the confirmation of charges procedures, applications that are delivered to the court were also originally issued under seal and unsealed a few days before his initial appearance. To illustrate the logic behind the sealing arrest warrants, the prosecutor in the case of Katanga declared a sealed order was necessary to ensure the arrest, delivery and transfer of the accused and the judges were asked to not to unseal the warrant that the accused was taken to a place where I could be your security and integrity of the secure detention.

In these cases, the ICC prosecutor has decided not to issue arrest warrants under seal? First against Bashir, the leader of Sudan, and two supposed allies. Second, against six accused leaders in sectors and allied with the government of Kenya. And thirdly, against Gaddafi, the leader of Libya under siege, and two power devices. Therefore, applications for arrest warrants unsealed seems to be made when international fair shares are at their highest when peace justice debate is more sensitive to demands for accountability placed front and center. But this strategy is?

perhaps too early to tell. In Darfur, the warrant against Bashir has been pending since March 2009 and for two other defendants, arrests have been sought since April 2007. These warrants have been systematically ignored, with Bashir travels frequently to countries that are obliged to implement the mandates of the ICC. For the six defendants in the case of Kenya, who voluntarily surrendered to The Hague for his initial appearance, and within weeks we will see if they will appear at the hearing to confirm charges. Upon termination of voluntary cooperation, remains to be seen if Kenya to arrest members of his own government and sent to The Hague.

We have precedents in other international tribunals, unlike the permanent International Criminal Court, have been created, either on an ad-hoc and hybrid tribunals established in national legislation. The criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia nternational pioneered the use of sealed arrest warrants in the prosecutor, Louise Arbour, and it was largely the subsequent arrest of Milosevic. More recently, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued sealed indictments in the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

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