Despite the challenges facing the International Criminal Court (ICC) in recent years, there are frequent calls for new cases to be opened – in Palestine, Mexico, South Sudan, Ukraine, and many others. However, as the Court’s engagement in Libya shows, opening an investigation is no guarantee that those who commit crimes will be pursued with rigour, or that the Court’s work will have much impact on challenging impunity and preventing further violence.
Libya was the first case to be referred to the ICC by a unanimous vote of the UN Security Council. The Court’s Prosecutor was granted an open mandate to investigate any international crimes committed after 15 February 2011. Following initial investigations, three arrest warrants were issued in March 2011 for Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and the head of Libya’s intelligence services, Abdullah Sensussi.
The case against Muammar Gaddafi was terminated after he was killed. The case against Abdullah Senussi was dismissed when the Court ruled in favour of the Libyan government’s admissibility challenge and concluded that Libya was able to genuinely carry out national proceedings against him. The only on-going case is that against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, which as of December 2014 has been referred to the UN Security Council by the Court due to Libya’s continued refusal (or inability) to transfer him to The Hague.
