After a ministerial meeting in Tehran, a group of nearly 120 developing nations issued a statement expressing “deep concern” over the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) efforts to arrest Sudan's President for war crimes. They say it could destabilize the African country even more.

It’s a common argument; don’t arrest your negotiating partner during a peace process.

Usually, political expediency wins out over the interests of justice and international law, but the establishment of the ICC in 2002 aimed to change conventional wisdom.

So far, the ICC has opened four investigations in Uganda, the Congo, the Central African Republic and Darfur.  Of the twelve public arrest warrants issued, half of those remain free.

Dan Thomann is Associate Attorney at Katz Law Firm and he’s Founder of the Chicago Alliance for the ICC. They’re a non-profit organization dedicating to U.S. participation in the International Criminal Court…

As an original signatory of the treaty founding the ICC who never ratified it — the United States is in the company of the U.S. Government calls “rogue nations”. Other countries that signed and never ratified the Rome Statute
include Iran, Uzbekistan, Eritrea, Egypt, Haiti and Syria.

(You can see a list of the signitories at ICC Chicago's website)

Jerome asked Dan how the Chicago Alliance for the ICC got started.