Security Council to Vote on Referring Syria to the ICC

The United Nations Security Council is planning to vote on Thursday about whether to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate claims of war crimes in Syria.

The United Nations Security Council is planning to vote on Thursday about whether to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate claims of war crimes in Syria. When we last checked in on the Security Council, members were trying to figure out how to refer Syria to the court despite that fact that the country has never ratified the statute which established it, and therefore does not recognize it.

France, which drafted the resolution, spent much of the last few weeks trying to garner support for the measure. According to The New York Times, more than 50 countries have signed on. The Syrian ambassador has described it as a “biased draft resolution in order to sabotage any chance of peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis led by the Syrians themselves.”

For all of the support though, the resolution is still likely to fail. Russia—one of the five permanent Security Council members with veto power—has pledged to use its veto. China is also expected to veto. Both countries have vetoed three previous resolutions.

The resolution will be put to a vote at 10 a.m. on Thursday.