At CiF Serge Brammertz - prosecutor for the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia - welcomes the new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda, looks at the recent advances made in international justice under the auspices of the ICC, and offers some thoughts on improving the system:
In 1993 impunity for wartime atrocities was the norm. Today international justice is a regular feature of conflict resolution processes, and amnesties are no longer readily traded for peace. In 1993, the Dutch jail cells of the fledgling Yugoslavian tribunal were empty with little hope that war crimes fugitives would ever be delivered. Today, of the 161 people indicted by the Yugoslavian tribunal, none remain at large. In 1993 the idea of trying a sitting head of state for war crimes seemed fanciful. Today Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, stands convicted by the special court for Sierra Leone of aiding and abetting a litany of gruesome crimes. In 20 years an innovative legal order has been designed, the infrastructure assembled and a new generation of specialised, multi-disciplinary professionals trained. It would be foolish to withdraw resources for international justice just as we are poised to reap the efficiencies of this groundwork.
Bensouda will need support from states when it comes to arresting the court's fugitives, such as Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, and Joseph Kony, the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army leader. The court's inability to arrest these long-time fugitives must be resolved urgently. The Yugoslavian tribunal's clean record in bringing all its indictees to book shows the power of positive incentives when it comes to arresting fugitives from international justice. In particular, policies making European Union membership conditional on full co-operation with the Yugoslavian tribunal created powerful pressure – most recently in Serbia – to hand over indictees, culminating in last years' long-awaited arrests of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic....
This being the Guardian, I was wondering how long it would take for a commenter to mention that noted war criminal Tony Blair. Not long, as it happens. The very first comment (and, to date, the most recommended)...
Were not you one of the notorious Drink-Soaked Trotskyites for War? Are you thrilled to learn that Rupert Murdoch was doing his bit for the cause? (see today's Guardian---or quickly divert attention to North Korea)
Posted by: frank O'Riordan | June 16, 2012 at 07:31 AM
One of the notorious Drink-Soaked Trotskyites for War? Alas no.
Posted by: Mick H | June 16, 2012 at 11:01 AM
'Are you thrilled to learn that Rupert Murdoch was doing his bit for the cause? (see today's Guardian) ...'
Seeing as I trust the Graun as much as I trust Murdoch - which is not at all - pardon me if I for one am sceptical about the story's provenance.
Posted by: sackcloth and ashes | June 18, 2012 at 06:25 PM