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n a few days, Indonesia will host the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference (AAC) under the theme of '€œStrengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity'€ in Jakarta and Bandung, from April 19 to 24.

For this historic event to have the same impact as it did in 1955, Indonesia as host should conduct a careful and serious scrutiny of those participating in the commemoration.

Among the 109 Asian and African countries, 16 observer countries and 25 international organizations invited to this event, Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, Sudan'€™s president, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over atrocity crimes in West Africa.

The ICC charged Al-Bashir for 10 counts of atrocity crimes under Article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute as an indirect (co)perpetrator, including five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape), two counts of war crimes (intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking part in hostilities) and three counts of genocide (by killing, by causing serious bodily or mental harm and genocide by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group'€™s physical destruction).

On March 4, 2009, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

In 2010, the ICC issued a second warrant containing three separate counts: for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The new warrant, as was the first, was delivered to the Sudanese government.

Al-Bashir came to power in a coup in 1989, intensifying an ongoing war with the South that led to more than 2 million deaths and the displacement of more than 4 million people.

He also led killings in the Nuba Mountains in the early 1990s that exterminated the area'€™s residents, leading to the deaths of as many as half a million people.

Darfur erupted into conflict in 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, complaining they were being marginalized.

The UN says the unrest in Darfur has killed 300,000 people and displaced 2 million, while the government puts the death toll at around 10,000.

In 2014, approximately half a million people were newly displaced in Darfur. Violence has spread into other areas of Sudan. President Al-Bashir has continued to block humanitarian aid for those in need and many people are at risk of starvation.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 1593 in 2005 and referred the tragedy in Darfur to the ICC, which urges all members of the UN, including Indonesia, to fully cooperate with the court.

The ICC'€™s warrants for Al-Bashir are in full effect. Nevertheless, it has been more than 2,225 days since the international arrest warrant was issued, but Al-Bashir has been travelling to countries that have been unwilling to take him into custody.

Currently, Indonesia is not a state-party to the ICC, but the country is in a strong position to assure the international community that the Asian-African Conference Commemoration has no place for perpetrators of mass atrocities, like Al-Bashir. His presence confers no added value to the purpose of the AAC.

Having Al-Bashir in the AAC will stain Indonesia'€™s reputation as a leading advocate of human rights protection in ASEAN.

Indonesia has the moral responsibility to show solidarity with the victims of Al-Bashir'€™s atrocity crimes.

Al-Bashir canceled his participation in a Southeast Asian meeting in Malaysia in 2011 after controversy erupted over his possible attendance.

The Sudan Tribune reported on March 16, 2015 that a Malaysian official said the presence would have been an '€œembarrassment'€ to the host country.

The Bandung Spirit of 1955 is still relevant today, in declaring the commitment of participating countries to fully support the fundamental principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as set forth in the UN Charter and taking these norms as a common standard for member states to achieve and for the protection of all peoples.

The Bandung Spirit deplored '€œthe policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination, which form the basis of government and human relations in large regions of Africa and in other parts of the world.

Such conduct is not only a gross violation of human rights, but also a denial of the dignity of man'€.

 The conference should serve as a good opportunity for Indonesia to encourage participating states to abide by the principles of the Bandung Spirit 1955 and of the international norms of human rights protection.

It should also be an occasion for countries from the two continents to revive regional cooperation to promote social justice, economic growth, global peace and justice through cross-regional dialogue and exchanges of good practices.

Cooperation can only be pursued when countries share the same values, principles and norms, which should be the basis for participating in the conference.

The conference should not downplay the atrocity crimes committed by leaders of some participating states.

Instead, it should be a platform for Indonesia to send a strong message to al-Bashir: no welcome mat for gross human rights violators here.
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Having Al-Bashir in the AAC will stain Indonesia'€™s reputation as a leading advocate of human rights protection.
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The writer is a senior advisor on ASEAN and Human Rights for the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), a Jakarta-based network of more than 50 groups in Indonesia, and program coordinator for Indonesia at the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.