Genocide Convention and Arms Sales
The International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s recent decision to seek genocide charges against Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir puts countries on notice that genocide may be occurring in Darfur. This triggers their international legal obligations under the Genocide Convention, which requires that when faced with a serious risk of genocide, countries take all measures within their power to prevent the atrocities. Countries that continue to deliver arms to the Sudanese government, and to provide other forms of support, risk legal liability for failure to prevent genocide and are at serious risk of being found complicit in genocide themselves. Those countries must suspend their arms transfers immediately in order to comply with the Genocide Convention