"A DOZEN years after its creation, the International Criminal Court is foundering. So far it has brought just 21 cases in eight countries, all of them in Africa. Only two have resulted in convictions - of relatively obscure Congolese rebel leaders...
The most horrific crimes against humanity perpetrated in the world in the past decade - in North Korea, Syria and Sri Lanka, among other places - remain outside the ICC's reach.
Worse, in two big cases the court bet that it could bring current heads of national governments to trial - and lost. This month the court's chief prosecutor was forced to abandon a case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had been charged with orchestrating a 2007 campaign of ethnic violence. Though Kenya is a member of the court, the government refused to cooperate with the prosecution, making it impossible to gather sufficient evidence.
That embarrassment is matched by the court's failed 2008 indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. An ICC warrant for Mr. Bashir's arrest was issued in 2009, but not only does he remain president of Sudan but he also has traveled to Egypt and Qatar with impunity. A week after the Kenya decision, the ICC prosecutor suspended evidence-gathering in the Darfur region where the crimes occurred."