Dr Mutasim Ali is Legal Counsel at the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, where he co-leads its Sudan Taskforce for Accountability and Justice. He also leads the Center’s sanctions program, where he authors independent legal analyses and files submissions for targeted sanctions. He is a scholar-practitioner of constitutional law, international human rights, and post-conflict governance.and a leading advocate for genocide prevention and refugee rights. A survivor of the Darfur genocide, he became the first Darfuri asylum seeker to be granted refugee status in Israel, where he campaigned tirelessly for refugee protection.Where do you see the most exciting research/debates happening in your field?

In the field of international law, the most exciting debate concerns states’ responsibility for breaches of international conventions intended to safeguard human life and dignity. While it is understandable that states may opt out of accepting the jurisdiction of an international arbitrator, this makes the enforcement of law and adherence to these conventions challenging. Particularly when states act in bad faith or use their political and economic influence to avoid scrutiny. For example, states failing to prevent genocide, or complicit in genocide, or even committing genocide, can evade accountability and justice solely because they lodged a reservation to the ICJ’s jurisdiction to adjudicate the issue in question—in this case, the threat facing entire communities targeted for extermination. The situation in Sudan is a case in point, where third-party states directly and openly enable genocidaires, yet cannot be brought to trial. The question, therefore, is: in times where mass atrocities are increasing, and the international order is at total risk, what are the tools available to enforce international law and hold even powerful states to account?

How has the way you understand the world changed over time, and what (or who) prompted the most significant shifts in your thinking?

For a long time, I saw the world through the lens of institutions, laws, and formal authority. I believed in the independence of international legal regimes to respond effectively to a situation like Sudan. Working with victims and survivors of atrocities and learning from the urgency of their issues made me realize that there are two worlds: the ideal world we all aspire to live in and another world that we deal with. The latter is driven by politics and economic interests. It is discouraging. Yet, working with mentors like the Honorable Irwin Cotler, who has dedicated his life to advocating for a better world, reminds us never to accept the world as it is.

Since Sudan’s independence in 1956, periods of armed conflict have outweighed periods of peace, and the current conflict has been described as a “war on civilians” because of its devastating impact on civilian populations. How should we understand the violence unfolding in Sudan today within the broader context of the country’s modern........

© E-International