One Down, Three to Go!

One of the four remaining suspects wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has been arrested. Stojan Zupljanin has been arrested somewhere near Belgrade and should be on his way to The Hague. Zupljanin was a Serb police commander during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. See the indictment: http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/zup-2ai041006.htm.

Australia Threatening to Sue Iran at International Court of Justice for Incitement to Genocide

There are press stories floating around about a threat from Australia to file an application against Iran at the International Court of Justice for 'direct and public incitement to commit genocide', which is a punishable act under article III of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The Court would have jurisdiction under article IX of the Convention. The complaint concerns various speeches and other statements made by the Iranian president about Israel. Australia will have to prove that Iran had the intent to destroy the Jewish people, as such. This is not at all evident, given Iran's significant Jewish community which enjoys special political rights and freedom of religion.
The last word on 'direct and public incitement to commit genocide' is last November's ruling by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in the so-called 'media case', Prosecutor v. Nahimana et al.: http://69.94.11.53/default.htm.
It seems that Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, promised prior to the election that a Labour Party government would take action in the Court for Ahmadinejad's threats. Recently the Attorney General of Australia was quoted as saying: 'The Government considers the comments made by Iranian President Ahmadinejad, calling for the destruction of Israel and questioning the existence of the Holocaust, to be repugnant and offensive. The Government is currently taking advice on this matter. The alternative to not using these international legal mechanisms is considering wholesale invasion of countries, which itself involves, obviously, expense but more relevantly, of course, the potential for significant loss of life.'
My advice to Australia would be to let this idea die a natural death, as is often done with electoral promises made in the heat of the moment. Once the Australian lawyers have digested the Nahimana decision, they could consider the recent Bosnia v. Serbia ruling of the International Court of Justice in assessing their chances of success: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13685.pdf.

New Blog in the European Court of Human Rights

A new blog on the European Convention on Human Rights has been set up by Dr Antoine Buyse of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights: www.echrblog.blogspot.com.

Near Miss by International Court in Catching Sudanese Suspect

According to an article in today's Al Jazeeera, http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/EXERES/13966AF6-5E96-4BB1-811C-FD37F7C7AEC6.htm, the International Criminal Court came close to catching Ahmad Harun, Sudan's Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, when he travelled to Mecca late last year. Plans had been made to divert Harun's aircraft to the territory of a friendly government, but Harun go wind of it and didn't takle the plane at the last minute. An arrest warrant was issued by the Court for Harun last May. On Thursday of this week, the Prosecutor spoke to the problem of State cooperation in his bi-annual report to the Security Council: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/367/43/PDF/N0836743.pdf?OpenElementpdf?OpenElement. He said he will be asking the Court to issue new arrest warrants in July. His remarks suggest they will be directed at the highest levels in the Government of Sudan. According to the Prosecutor: 'The evidence shows that the commission of such crimes on such a scale, over a period of five years and throughout Darfur, has required the sustained mobilization of the entire Sudanese State apparatus: the coordination of the military, security and intelligence services, the integration of the Janjaweed militia, the participation of all ministries, the contribution of the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies and the control of the judiciary.
Thanks to Dr. Michael Kearney.

British Court Agrees to Rwandan Extradition, While International Tribunal Denies a Second Application

Two new judgments today on the evolving saga of transfer and extradition of genocide suspects to Rwanda. A British judge ruled today in favour of extradition of four Rwandans currently detained in the UK. See: Government of Rwanda v. Bajinya et al.: http://www.mediafire.com/?i13zx0kujmi.
Meanwhile, a second decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, this one from a different Trial Chamber, has dismissed an application to transfer a case to the Rwandan courts: Prosecutor v. Kanyarukiga: http://www.mediafire.com/?z2ct3ok1tg0. The judges basically confirm two of the arguments in the previous decision (see this blog, 29 May 2008), but are dismissive of the charge that the Rwandan judiciary is not independent and impartial. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, Rwanda’s Attorney General criticised last week’s judgment in a statement to the UN Security Council: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/365/38/PDF/N0836538.pdf?OpenElement
Today's decision not only reviews the grounds for denying transfer, it also addressed many of the arguments that had been raised by the defence and by human rights NGOs and dismisses them.
More Trial Chamber decisions from the Rwanda Tribunal are awaited in the coming weeks. The Prosecutor told the Security Council that he would appeal his defeat of last week. And it is likely that the British judgment of today will also be appealed. Stay tuned.

Obama and the Death Penalty

I don't want to rain on Obama's parade, but it is unfortunate that he has not taken a clear position opposed to capital punishment. Obama's views on the death penalty seem to have evolved with his political career, from outright abolition a decade ago, to the views you see here in this clip from a debate during the 2004 Senate race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOL8TxtexM. Obama says the death penalty is 'appropriate in certain circumstances' such as 'extraordinarily heinous crimes'. He's certainly not a rabid executioner, like the current tenant of the White House. When Bush was governor of Texas he was responsible for scores of executions. Getting him out of Texas was an important step forward in fighting the death penalty, although there was a stiff price to pay for it! It's a shame that in the US there isn't even a debate about this issue at the political level. Politicians are simply terrified to come out and fight on the subject, fearful it will destroy their chances.

Mexico Back at International Court of Justice Concerning Nationals on Death Row in the United States

Mexico has filed an application at the International Court of Justice seekin interpretation of the Judgment of 31 March 2004 in the case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America). It is asking for the urgent indication of provisional measures)
http://www.icj-cij.org/presscom/index.php?pr=2041&p1=6&p2=1&lang=en. The case concerns Mexican nationals on death row in the United States whose rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations were violated. Recently, the United States Supreme Court dismissed an application by one of the persons concerned, who was seeking to enforce the judgment of the International Court of Justice.

Implementing Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has often participated in the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Its Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has just issued a report on this subject: http://www.mediafire.com/?xd1hdjvetrh
Thanks to Andrew Drzemczewski.

US Government Position on Armenian Genocide

Late last year, President Bush said the United States shouldn't take a position on the Armenian genocide because of the importance of Turkey in the 'war against terrorism'. Only a few days ago, I stumbled upon a statement filed by the Government of the United States in the International Court of Justice, in 1951: 'The Roman persecution of the Christians, the
Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Xazis arc outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.' This can be found on p. 25 of the US submissions to the Court in the Advisory Opinion on Genocide, available at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/12/11767.pdf.

Encyclopedia of Mass Violence

Jacques Semelin, of Sciences politiques in France, runs an interesting website entitled The Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence. The site says it provides chronological indexes, case studies, analytical contributions on socio-political violence in a given country, a glossary of the terms most often used in genocide studies as well as theoretical papers written by the most representative authors in the field: http://www.massviolence.org/. Jacques is the author of an excellent recent study, Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide, originally published in French as Purifier et détruire.