• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, March 31, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

International Criminal Justice Is Not Dead Yet

Kevin D. Reyes by Kevin D. Reyes
07/25/17
in Featured, Opinion
International Criminal Justice Is Not Dead Yet
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

While at work this weekend, I stumbled upon a book that’s been on my reading list for some time: An International Criminal Court, A Step Toward World Peace: A Documentary History and Analysis.

This book traces the history of proposals in the twentieth century that aimed to create a permanent international criminal court. You’d think this is a recent book; it’s actually from 1980. Its author is Benjamin Ferencz, who was a 27-year-old chief prosecutor for the U.S. against Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg in 1947. Seven decades later, he is now 97 years old and the world’s last living Nuremberg prosecutor.

I was fascinated by the preface to the 2-volume book. In it Mr. Ferencz wrote:

                  “The fact that it may take many lifetimes or longer to achieve a goal is no reason for despair. On the contrary that is all the more reason why the efforts and the dreams of the past must not be allowed to die…. I have noted all of the arguments, the failures and the disappointments. I can therefore fully appreciate the feelings of frustration and hopelessness that might well be felt by those who regard themselves as ‘realists.’ Should they consider mine as ‘an optomism verging on wishfulness,’ [sic] I would respect their judgment. But I would respectfully disagree.”

Nearly four decades since the book was published, the chimera Mr. Ferencz had been hoping for now celebrates 15 years since it opened its doors in The Hague in July 2002. The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) mandate, as the Rome Statute lays out, is to try “the most serious crimes of international concern”—the atrocities known as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, with the near-future inclusion of the crime of aggression. The Rome Statute was adopted on July 17, 1998, and celebrated its 19th anniversary on July 17 — also known since 2010 as the Day of International Criminal Justice.

Even with these celebrations, recent developments in global disorder are cause for despair—what Mr. Ferencz so carefully warned us of in 1980.

The lack of effective international intervention and pursuit of accountability in Syria continues. Other conflict-like situations like those in Mexico are causing confusion on their proper crisis assessment. Nations in Africa threaten to pull out of the Rome Statute. President Donald J. Trump entertains the candidacy of harsh ICC critics like John Bolton, who has regarded the ICC as a “threat” to American interests, for high-level positions.

As global security risks escalate, the efforts of global justice become frustrated. Instead, the feelings of Mr. Ferencz’s realists become much more seductive. As someone who works in international justice, I have heard the realist hopelessness from several friends and advisors over the years. I still remember being told two years ago that I was wasting my time working on advocacy for approaching Mexico’s enforced disappearances as crimes against humanity.

Like Mr. Ferencz, I respectfully disagree. The world is not entirely in disarray.

In fact, last year proved quite successful for international criminal justice. In March 2016, the ICC convicted Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Days later, the former Bosnian Serb president of Republica Srpska Radovan Karadžić was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) after two decades since his indictment.

In May, the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal convicted Hissène Habré, former president of Chad, for war crimes, torture, and crimes against humanity, including sexual violence, during his rule in the 1980s. (The decision in the Habré case was recently upheld in April, albeit with a “partial acquittal” for a rape charge.) Gains continue to be made.

Today, my colleagues in the field “pore over” seemingly endless amounts of online photos and videos to verify alleged atrocities around the world using groundbreaking open-source intelligence (OSINT) methods. One such initiative includes advancing the collection of the Syrian Archive, a project that aims to document and preserve evidence of violations of human rights and international criminal law in the hopeful event that a tribunal such as the ICC pursues accountability.

To the realists, the Syrian Archive will only be a repository for historical study and Mexico will never see a Guatemala-like anti-impunity commission. Again, this is appealing but too hopeless. Perhaps it is time we read through Ben Ferencz’s words again.

His work in the ‘70s and ‘80s to gain support for an international criminal court seemed unrealistic at the time. For years, many victims of atrocities and their advocates thought the Congolese warlord Bemba, “Butcher of Bosnia” Karadžić, or the U.S.-enabled Habré would never be serving jail time for their abuses.

Just like today, the work done to one day bring accountability to Syria, Mexico, and other places around the world seems ludicrous. The work of international criminal justice is long and messy, so I understand the defeatism from the realists when they are told that accountability may take decades to be realized, especially when they see justice delayed as justice denied.

On this Day of International Criminal Justice—15 years since the ICC entered into force and 70 years since a young Ferencz prosecuted Nazi criminals—I respectfully disagree. The work of international criminal justice continues to get done despite worsening global situations and the siren song of despair. Just take Ben Ferencz’s word for it.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Kevin D. Reyes

Kevin D. Reyes

Independent scholar on national security issues based in Washington, D.C.

Related Posts

Palestine war, Gaza
Middle East

Israel Refuses to Work With ICC on War Crimes Probe, Says ‘No Authority’

by Staff Writer
April 8, 2021
The body of a woman shot dead near her house in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico on Aug. 1, 2018
Opinion

Atrocities and Impunity in Mexico: Too Hot to Handle for the ICC?

by Javier Eskauriatza
November 1, 2019
A Myanmar border guard
Featured

ICC Prosecutor Seeks Full Myanmar Atrocities Probe

by Staff Writer
June 26, 2019
U.N. Special Rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee genocide rohingya
World

UN Rapporteur Says Little Chance Myanmar Will be Tried at ICC Over Rohingya

by Staff Writer
July 8, 2018
Rodrigo Duterte
Featured

Int’l Criminal Court Probes Crimes in Philippines, Venezuela

by Staff Writer
February 8, 2018
A US Army Chinook helicopter on patrol in Kandahar province in Afghanistan
Featured

ICC Probe Could Hold US Accountable for Torture in Afghanistan

by Michael Hughes
November 10, 2017
Next Post
cumhuriyet journalists trial gazeteciler yargilaniyor turkey

Turkey’s Critical Journalists Face Trial On Terrorism Charges

palestine jerusalem

In Jerusalem, Palestinian Quest For Justice Never Fades

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

Damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado is seen on March 25, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Mississippi

After Tornado Kills 25, Mississippi Faces More Extreme Weather

March 26, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
participants of an artificial intelligence conference

How AI Could Upend the World Even More Than Electricity or the Internet

March 19, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
Heavily armed police inspect the area near a Jehovah's Witness church where several people have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg, northern Germany

Eight Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Germany

March 10, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

March 8, 2023

Opinion

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post