Author: Tim

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Genocide Accountability Act

Since the end of World War II, the United States Department of Justice has actively pursued the prosecution of Nazi war criminals living within our borders through the Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Because of existing laws, the Justice Department doesn’t have the authority to try fugitives for genocide crimes, and instead deports them to their home country for prosecution.

However, a new bill that’s about to move before the full Senate would undo the precedent that keeps non-citizens from being charged with genocide in the United States.

Under current law, genocide is only considered a crime if it is committed within the United States or by a U.S. national outside the United States. The Genocide Accountability Act would close the current loophole by amending the Genocide Convention Implementation Act to allow prosecution of non-U.S. citizens for genocide committed outside the United States.

The Justice Department has identified individuals who participated in the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides and who are living in the United States under false pretenses. Under current law, these individuals cannot be arrested or prosecuted for genocide, because they are not U.S. nationals and the acts in which they were involved did not take place in the United States. In contrast, the laws on torture, material support for terrorism, terrorism financing, hostage taking, and many other federal crimes are still considered crimes when committed outside the United States by non-U.S. nationals.

Salah Abdallah Gosh, the head of security in the Sudanese government, has reportedly played a key role in the government’s genocidal campaign in Darfur. In 2005, Gosh came to Washington to meet with senior Administration officials. Under current law, the FBI could not even interview Gosh about his involvement in the Darfur genocide, much less charge him with a crime.

This is the first bill to be introduced by the subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, which was officially established at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first business meeting of the 110th Congress. The Human Rights subcommittee’s first hearing was held in February and focused on the genocide in Darfur and other parts of the world.

Even though the bill will likely aid in the prosecution of Sudanese and Rwandan ex-pats, there’s little doubt that cases like John Demjanjuk’s would have been better served if this loophole had been closed earlier. In fact, this will hopefully give the OSI the teeth it needs to pursue fugitive war criminals with greater effectiveness.

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Non-binding resolution ire

Charlie Coon (of Stars and Stripes) reports that military officials are worried about the backlash that may result if Congress passes a new non-binding resolution stating that the Armenian Genocide was in fact genocide.

Post-empire Turkey, a moderate, Muslim-majority nation and NATO member since 1952, hosts Incirlik Air Base, home to 1,500 U.S. troops and an important cargo and refueling hub. A resolution could sour Turkish public sentiment toward the U.S., possibly leading to restrictions regarding Incirlik and Turkish air space.

“I’m worried about the potential impact to our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Maj. Gen. Robertus Remkes, director of strategy, policy and assessments at the U.S. European Command.

House Resolution 106, introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and backed by House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., among others, could come to a vote in April.

As usual, the debate that’s taking place is largely political and has little to do with the actual event. While the various governments involved have no problem disinheriting families from acknowledging the past, history, and even the powers involved, had no problems recognizing genocide when it happened.

On May 24, 1915, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Russia issued a statement saying:

In view of these new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied Governments announce publicly to the Sublime Porte [court of the Ottoman Empire] that they will hold personally responsible for these crimes all members of the Ottoman Government, as well as those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres.

This example was later used to codify the act of Crimes Against Humanity during the drafting of the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal. It stands as the first modern example of a Crime Against Humanity, and leaves little doubt that our past leaders recognized what had taken place in the former Ottoman Empire.

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Darfur report excerpts

The Seattlepi posted a list of excerpts from yesterday’s United Nation report on Darfur. They include:

  • Today, millions are displaced, at least 200,000 are dead, and conflict and abuse are spilling over the border into Chad.
  • Making matters worse, humanitarian space continues to shrink, and humanitarian and human rights actors are increasingly targeted.
  • Killing of civilians remains widespread, including in large-scale attacks. Rape and sexual violence are widespread and systematic. Torture continues.
  • Arbitrary arrest and detention are common, as is repression of political dissent, and arbitrary restrictions on political freedoms.
  • Violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have increased by all parties to the conflict since the signing of the DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement).
  • The deteriorating security situation since the DPA has resulted in tens of thousands of newly displaced – now totaling well over 2 million displaced people in Darfur – and 30,000 more refugees in the camps in Chad, with new arrivals daily.
  • Today, the conflict is also having a growing impact in the Central African Republic. If the conflict in Darfur is not meaningfully and equitably resolved, bringing peace and security to its people, it could increasingly engulf the region.
  • U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a peacekeeping force along both borders.
  • Arbitrary arrest and detention in Darfur by government security forces continue.
  • Individuals reportedly targeted include lawyers, community leaders and others who work on human rights, Sudanese who work for international organizations or who are perceived as cooperating too closely with the international community, individuals who share the predominant ethnicities of various rebel groups, and Sudanese who display opposition political views.
  • Since September 2006, there has been a wave of arrests of Darfurians in Khartoum.
  • The human rights team “has also received credible information of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment by National Security and Military Intelligence during attacks and in the treatment of detainees.
  • The methods used include beatings with whips, sticks and gun butts, prolonged sun exposure, starvation, electrocution, and burning with hot candle wax or molten plastic.
  • Many detainees are held incommunicado without charge or access to a lawyer.
  • In the last six months of 2006, more relief workers were killed than in the previous two years combined.
  • Just during the month of December 2006, 29 humanitarian vehicles were hijacked and 430 humanitarian workers relocated in all three Darfur states.
  • Witnesses, victims and observers we met repeatedly confirmed joint action between government forces and armed militia in assaulting civilian targets in Darfur.
  • Arms continue to flow freely, and heavily armed militia continue to operate across the territory of Darfur with impunity.
  • Rebel abuses of human rights and humanitarian law also continue…Civilians have been targeted in armed rebel attacks, and acts of rape and torture by rebel forces have also been documented.
  • There have been reports of attacks on aid convoys by rebel forces, putting the populations in these areas in a particularly precarious situation.
  • The Commission also found credible evidence that, while not widespread and systematic, rebel forces from the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement) and SLA (Sudan Liberation Army) were responsible for serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law which may amount to war crimes.
  • The situation is characterized by gross and systematic violations of human rights and grave breaches of international humanitarian law.
  • War crimes and crimes against humanity continue across the region…The principal pattern is one of a violent counterinsurgency campaign waged by the government of the Sudan in concert with Janjaweed militia, and targeting mostly civilians.
  • Rebel forces are also guilty of serious abuses of human rights and violations of humanitarian law.
  • The mission further concludes that the government of the Sudan has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes, and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes.
  • The government of the Sudan should cooperate fully in the deployment of the proposed U.N./AU peacekeeping/protection force without further delay.
  • The Security Council should take urgent further action to ensure the effective protection of the civilian population of Darfur, including through the deployment of the proposed U.N./AU peacekeeping/protection force and full cooperation with and support for the work of the International Criminal Court.
  • The General Assembly of the United Nations should request the compilation of a list of foreign companies that have an adverse impact on the situation of human rights in Darfur.
  • U.N. member states “should also be prepared to prosecute individuals suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur through the exercise of universal jurisdiction in national courts outside of the Sudan.
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    Four accused genocidaires lose appeal

    Four accused Rwanda genocidaires — Vincent Bajinya, Celestin Ugirashebuja, Emmanuel Nteziryayo and Charles Munyaneza — lost an appeal to grant them release based on John Reid’s extension of their detainment. This will prevent the four men from seeking an over-ruling in the House of Lords but they can still attempt to overturn the decision with the Law Lords.

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    Sudan responsible for crimes

    A United Nations human rights team has found the government of Sudan culpable in the deaths and violence that continues unabated in Darfur. The team, which was headed by Nobel laureate Jody Williams, called on the UN Security Council to make good on their threats to freeze funds, assets, and economic resources

    So far, the international response had been “pathetic”, [Williams] said.

    “There are so many hollow threats towards Khartoum, that if I were Khartoum I wouldn’t pay any attention either,” she said.

    “It is more than a tragedy. It was after Rwanda that people said ‘never again’, and here we are again… and the world sits by.”

    It was actually after the Holocaust that we first said “Never Again,” and yet we’ve had a non-ending parade of mass killings since, with no end in sight. In fact, the one thing that seems to be a universal constant in cases of genocide is a complete lack of response from the international community.