The International Criminal Court has no police force of its own to enforce its warrants and relies entirely on ICC states playing ball.
The International Criminal Court has taken the major step of issuing an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war. But does this mean the Russian president, accused of the war crime of deporting children, is really ever likely to stand trial in The Hague? ICC member states are obliged to carry out the arrest warrants on Putin and Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, if they travel to their countries. “That’s right,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said when asked if Putin would be liable for arrest if he set foot in any of those 123 nations. But while that could make travel difficult for Putin, the court has no police force of its own to enforce its warrants, and relies entirely on ICC states playing ball. Countries haven’t always done so – particularly when it involves a sitting head of state like Putin. Former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir managed to visit a number of ICC member states including South Africa and Jordan despite being subject to an ICC warrant. Despite being ousted in 2019, Sudan has yet to hand him over.
