International Justice

it seems like Myanmar is going to trend for a while now. with the mistreatment of the muslim minority being regarded as ethnic cleansing by human right activists, the situation seems to push for more condemnation every time. according to a U.K report recently released, U.k has said its stand and is calling the situation in Burma a crime a against humanity, ethnic cleansing as well as a case which possibly could amount to genocide. In its report, the U.K also accuse the world of failing to recognize this ill treatment of innocent people. the U.K  also accuses the Commander in Chief of the Burmese security forces, General Min Aung Hlaing. According to this article while the U.K acknowledge that there is an ongoing human suffering in Burma, it has failed to be very clear on it stand. even after mentioning words like ethnic cleansing, crime against humanity and genocide, the U.K failed to cement its ground by admitting that it hard to classify or categorize the crimes happening in Myanmar. but in general, it appears that the U.K is not in support of the situation and acknowledges that persecution should be on the card for the perpetrators of this crimes. the world should pay attention and move quickly to stop what is happening. peace first, justice later.

The ICC was created in order to have a permanent justice tribunal that would be used for cases that were related to atrocity crimes. But ever since it was founded the ICC has found some challenges along the road. At first, it was seen with good eyes in the African community, but when prosecutor Ocampo started going after sitting presidents,  the view started to change towards the view that the ICC is the newer form of Neo-colonialism.

Overall, while the ICC is traversing very challenging terrain, the positive effects that it is beginning to have – developing a track record of justice; catalyzing domestic accountability processes; empowering civil society advocates for justice; and potentially contributing to deterrence and prevention of atrocity crimes – are all impacts that the United States historically has supported and should continue to support. And, diplomatically, the United States will be better able to protect U.S. interests and U.S. personnel through astute, constructive engagement with the ICC, advancing the strongest and most credible arguments possible. Engagement is a more effective strategy than suspending relations or reacting with overt hostility.

The Associated Press agency has said that the Burmese military’s rape of Rohingya people can be defined as ‘methodical’, and constitutes a ‘calculated tool of terror’ with the aim of exterminating the Rohingya as a group. This statement was based on interviews with 29 victims, ranging from 13 to 35 years of age, who all say their attackers were soldiers (as they either wore uniforms and other military insignia, or had been identified as soldiers from a nearby outpost). In more than one case, males in the same house were killed to prevent them interfering.

Assuming this is true (and there is little evidence to suggest otherwise- the military did not respond to requests for comment), then this adds fuel to the allegations that Burma is currently waging a campaign of genocide against the Rohingya, which would mandate other nations to step in to protect them.

It is believed that there are far more women who have been raped than those who have come forward so far (those who have come forward number 113, with the youngest being 9 years old), though the government of Burma denies their stories, in this case claiming they were not attractive enough to be raped.

South Africa’s Justice and Correctional Service Minister Michael Masutha officially announced the plan at the Assembly of State Parties in New York last Wednesday. This was put forward with the aim of triggering the national procedure to do so soon, including repealing national implementing legislation.

This comes after a previous attempt to leave the ICC earlier this year was declared unconstitutional by the High Court of South Africa. This was because the proposal had bypassed Parliament, and was thus rejected . The decision to leave was sparked by the failure of South African authorities to arrest Al-Bashir of Sudan while he was on South African territory, which led to clashes between them and the ICC.

There was also discussion of the replacement for the Rome Statute, with Masutha proposing to introduce the International Crimes Bill, through which “Parliament will be requested to remove legal uncertainty regarding South Africa’s international obligations under both domestic and international law”.

The departure of South Africa from the ICC could be a major blow to the already fraught diplomatic relations between African states and the court. As Burundi is the only state to have left so far, and with South Africa being seen as such a pioneer of human rights in Africa, their exit could have implications for other states to follow suit.

This weekend I listened to a podcast by The Guardian that discussed the truth commission regarding child sex abuse in Australia and around the world. This truth commision focused specifically on the child sex abuse committed by priests and religious teachers of Australia’s Catholic church. Although there was a focus on Australia, child sex abuse is a global issue that includes all countries or nations around the world. Other countries mentioned were England, Ireland, and other European countries. As most of us know, the United States have also dealt with these horrific crimes here in Boston recently. In most cases, sexual abuse doesn’t constitute as an atrocity crime, but when there are hundreds or thousands of perpetrators and tens of thousands of victims associated with one establishment, I see this as a crime against humanity. The Catholic church is a global establishment and while there is a lot of good associated with it, they also have had many dark secrets, including child sex abuse. In addition to these traumatizing attacks, these victims lives are changed completely from how they view the world to there interactions with other individuals. Many have even committed suicide. Now, after years, decades, centuries, etc of this abuse going unpunished, a truth commision has been announced to help the victims. Some share their experiences being attacked and expect their perpetrators to come forward. This topic was also similar to my essays on child soldiers because not only are the child soldiers abused but, usually the girls, are often sexually abused and forced to be a “wife” of a high ranked soldier. In some of the cases discussed in the podcast, victims had been adopted as fosters or had children involved with the church every day. In this way, the victims could not get away from their perpetrators and were also coerced and forced into sexual activity by their attackers.

Iraq has been fighting against ISIS for over three years. Over the past three years, there have been multiple combat operations and Iraq has officially announced that the fight against the Islamic Group is over. The security forces drove the extremists out of the territories they once held. On Saturday the security forces moped up the last pockets of ISIS fighters from Iraq’s western desserts and secured the border with Syria. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said “Honorable Iraqis, your land has been completely liberated. The liberation dream has become a reality. We achieved victory in difficult circumstances and with God’s help, the steadfastness of our people and the bravery of our heroic forces we prevailed.” However, ISIS fighters remain capable of carrying out insurgent attacks in Iraq, and the group has recovered from past setbacks so Iraq must remain ready for this again.

the light at the end of the tunnel can as well be the same darkness at the start of the tunnel depending on how you approach a situation at hand. Such is the case in Libya in their quest for democracy. Although ousted Gaddaffi out of power, there is only wreckage to show for their good course.  Libya, a country which was once a paradise in the middle of nowhere, now a complete farce, is resurrecting one of the most dreadful and condemnable commercial activity the world had put to rest. The slave Trade, I mean. As can be seen through this link, an article and a video are provided showing the tale of how other African immigrants are captured in Libya, detained and sold for few dollars to work in farms. In the video, voices are heard during the auctioning with the highest bidder winning it by 700 us dollars. Very unbelievable it may appear but we are already in 2017, the history is repeating itself. That night 12 nigerians were sold. the questions is, who do the Libyans sell these immigrants to? who is the buyer? this a question even the CNN themselves have not attempted to address.

According to Fani Femi-kayode, a nigerian lawyer as well as a poet, some of these “captives” do have their bodies mutilated, their important organs taken out and their bodies burnt upside down. the lawyer mocked the president of Nigerian for failing to condemn such an evil when most of these people are nigerians. Two weeks ago, the AU and EU met in Africa to discuss their relationships at the levels of political and economic interactions and although slave trade was top of the agenda, not many of them rolled up their sleeves and get dirty with work afterwards or even to condemn it until Paul Pogba, a soccer player showed his anti-slavery feelings while celebrating a goal during a soccer match between Manchester United and Newcastle United.

personally, I am left asking questions. Where is democracy in Libya that was so desired, where are they humans rights that were being protected in Libya. will Tripoli get back to become the flashy city it was once was?

This article describes the most recent developments in the ICC preliminary investigations against British involvement in Iraq. Chief prosecutor Bensouda has said there is a “reasonable basis” to believe there were war crimes committed by British Soldiers in Iraq between 2003 and 2008.

This announcement came on Monday, the first of the 9 day annual assembly of state parties in New York. The office of the prosecutor specified that the war crimes relate to crimes committed by UK armed forces members against persons in their custody, and not any war crimes on the battlefield, such as targeting civilians or causing excessive civilian injuries. It was delivered in the form of a 74-page report on the Preliminary Examination of the case, when the case was reopened in 2014 following the lack of evidence turned up by 2006 investigations. The reopening came after rights groups and lawyers alleged that at least 1,071 Iraqi detainees were tortured and ill-treated. The same group also alleged that British personnel committed 52 unlawful killings of people in their custody through the 5 year period.

The next question facing the investigations are the requirements of complimentary and gravity. A UK government spokesperson said they are confident the ICC would not move to the next stage of a formal investigation, due to the ability of the UK to investigate itself, and the existing efforts to do so.

Jordan’s foreign minister has warned the United States of “dangerous consequences” if it recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. According to Ayman Safadi he told US secretary Rex Tillerson that such a declaration would trigger great anger in the Arab and Muslim World. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to rally international support to persuade Mr. Trump not to make the announcement. He said that Palestinian leaders have previously warned the move would threaten a two-state solution, because many Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state. These issues came up with Trump’s campaign as he promised to move the embassy.

Respond to all or one of the following questions:

1. In what ways can truth commissions be considered a form of justice for victims and perpetrators?  Under what circumstances would victims consider a truth commission as not much better than impunity?
2. What benefits (for justice and reconciliation) do truth commissions have that trials do not?
3. In what types of post-conflict or post-repression contexts would truth commissions work well?

Slobodan Praljak, former Bosnian-Croat leader during the genocide in Yugoslavia and convicted war criminal, committed suicide on Wednesday November 29th in the Hague. The former general had been sentenced in 2013 to 20 years in prison for war crimes, and was in court to hear the ruling on his appeal. When the conviction was upheld Praljak defiantly stood up and shouted “Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. I am rejecting your verdict with contempt” and proceeded to drink a vial of liquid. The court proceedings were quickly put on hold to rush Praljak to the hospital. The suicide is under investigation and the courtroom in which the suicide took place is being treated as a crime scene. It is unclear at this time what Praljak ingested. Praljak’s appeal was the last possible appeal of the war criminals tried in 2013.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/29/europe/slobodan-praljak-hague-sentencing/index.html

Earlier today a federal court of Argentina sentenced to life in prison due to their involvement in the “death flights” that caused the death of 12 citizens of Argentina. This “death flights” were a common tool that the Argentinian military dictatorship had to make people, who were thought to be against the military regimen; disappear.

The ruling on Wednesday marked the first Argentinian judgment against participants in the so-called “death flights”, where opponents of Argentina’s military regime were thrown into the freezing waters of the South Atlantic in an attempt to hide the murders.

The former Bosnian Serb commander, Ratko Mladic, has been convicted of 10 crimes including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. This brings to an end his trial (ongoing since 2012), though his lawyer said he would appeal.

This result was largely well-received, though reportedly Mladic couldn’t face it and had to be removed from the courtroom for shouting “It’s a lie. Everything you said in this courtroom is a lie.” after his appeal to halt the process due to ‘high blood pressure’ failed; he was not present for the final sentencing.

Overall, Mladic has been on the run for 16 years, on trial for 6, and he’s now 74. In his time as commander, he killed approximately 8,000 unarmed civilians at Srebrenica, deported 23,000 more, used mass rape and destruction of homes and property as a weapon, and killed an unknown number of people through his extensive use of artillery and snipers as the Siege of Sarajevo. Though it’s taken a long time, a measure of justice has been delivered.

I chose to blog about the recently announced investigation on Burundi because my last blog post had concerned the resignation of Burundi from the ICC and the involvement of an individual suspected of crimes committed was connected with my topic of research.

A couple weeks ago, Burundi had resigned from the ICC without legitimate reasoning. They tried to bash the ICC by saying that they only seek justice and punishment for African states. However, it was argued by the ICC that Burundi had been ridiculing the ICC to take attention away from Burundi’s issues. Although the issue of ICC investigates in African states was greatly criticised publicly, a couple weeks after this fallout, the ICC announced their investigation into the suspicions they had for Burundi crimes.

Pre-Trial information revealed that “the alleged perpetrators committed the crimes of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and persecution.” Also, “the number of alleged victims [was] … 1,200 persons killed, thousands detained, thousands tortured, hundreds disappeared, and over 413,000 persons displaced.”

It is clear now that Burundi had something to hide, as was expected. The article also referenced the involvement of Dominic Ongwen who was a top commander of Joseph Kony’s LRA. The LRA was definitely connected to some of these crimes committed in Burundi as I researched the LRA and their child soldiers’ atrocities for my research paper.

This article is written by Steven Pomper, formerly the National Security Council’s Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights in the Obama administration. He advised the White House leadership on ICC policy, and in this article, he offers the options that the administration have with responding to these investigations. Whilst he states that cooperation is not a viable option, Pomper looks at how the US could formulate a response and the stance they may take in relation to the court. He disregards several possibilities, such as gaining immunity from other states through using aid as leverage, and attacking the legitimacy of the court, as the Israeli leadership did over Palestine.

He suggests a possible option with mutual benefit is to maintain the low-key public approach that it has taken up until now, and rely on strong lawyers to preempt and stall further developments such as charges or arrest warrants. Pomper admits that this course could be threatened by ICC skeptics could capitalize on this moment to further distance themselves from the Court and everything it stands for, and this could be highly detrimental. While a spokesman from the Pentagon described an ICC investigation as “wholly unwarranted and unjustified” and “not serv[ing] the interests of either peace or justice in Afghanistan”, the response that the administration will give is yet unknown. One more point Pomper makes is that this is a consequential moment for the court and how it will be viewed by the world in the future. The success or failure of this case is reliant on many factors that it cannot control, and is instrumental in determining the ICC’s future.

This article examines the question of what will happen to the ‘lion cubs of the caliphate’ now that IS is rapidly losing territory. The bulk of the article is made up of statements from Ishmael Beah (who was a child soldier in Sierra Leone) and Professor Mia Bloom from Georgia State University (who is studying children in terrorist organisations).

Beah focuses on his personal experiences, and talks about how he was forced by circumstance to join the military, and ended up so desensitised to killing that when he was finally turned over to UNICEF he didn’t want to stop fighting. Furthermore, his re-integration was hampered by the ill will the community bore him (and the other demobilised child soldiers) due to the privileges he received from the UN (primarily running water and food). Beah finishes by warning any returning ‘cubs’ that the process of assimilating back into society will be hard, but it is possible.

Bloom takes a more academic stance, and talks about the prospects of successful re-integration in different countries, primarily Pakistan and Western European states like France and Germany. She stresses the importance of the community’s role in the re-integration process, and that if the community is supportive then the ex-child soldier stands a good chance of adapting to a more normal life. If the community ostracises the child, or (as was an issue in Pakistan) members of the community played a role in the child’s recruitment, then effective re-integration is unlikely.

Overall, the emphasis is on ensuring the ex-child soldier is accepted by the community they return to. But is this possible in states where fears of terrorism and xenophobic sentiments are on the rise?

This article reports that the UN released two rebel fighters who injured a UN peacekeeper, in an attempt to maintain peace before an upcoming election.

In 2015, there was an attack on a UN checkpoint by four rebels- of the four, one was killed, one was wounded, and two were arrested. They were members of the ‘Union for Peace’ (UPC) militia, though the UPC denies that it was part of any attack on the UN.

Technically the two fighters have been released on ‘provisional freedom’- essentially parole- though a representative from Human Rights Watch describes this as the equivalent of letting them go, considering the rule of law in the CAR. The Human Rights Watch’s criticism is especially sharp as they have documented multiple war crimes committed by the UPC during the struggle for control over resources in the area, such as when they killed eight civilians merely a day before the attack on the UN checkpoint.

Internal e-mails show that UN officials were concerned about giving the impression that justice is ‘negotiable’, but decided that they could pursue an investigation later- this investigation has not materialised in the two years since the incident. Whilst this may have kept a lid on election violence, has it come at the cost of undermining UN authority? What does this mean for the UN’s peacekeeping role in the Christian/Muslim conflict?