|
 |
|
 |
Sharon: The government already hired
a Belgian lawyer.
(Photo: Reuters ) |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Kissinger: Some want to see him on
trial for Cambodia.
(Photo: Reuters ) |
|
|
Two and a half millenia ago,
goes the legend, a powerful ruler wanted to prove to one of his
courtiers that being powerful is not all happiness and perks. He ordered
a feast prepared for the man, but for the entire meal suspended a sword,
hanging from a hair, over the head of the courtier. The ruler was
Dionysius I, the humbled courtier was Damocles.
Nowadays there is a growing number of leaders who know how Damocles must
have felt. They are powerful in their own countries but face an
unprecedented threat resulting from new developments in international
law.
The campaigns against Ariel Sharon in Belgium and Carmi Gillon in
Denmark aren't isolated cases. They are part of a larger effort to press
charges against government and military officials in many countries
where the petitioners say there have been human rights violations. The
Sword of Damocles is no longer the title of a legend - it's the real
name of an organization that has set about tracking the movements of
those leaders.
Robert Menard, head of the French-based Reporters without Borders, was
in Jerusalem last week to present a report on journalists wounded during
the Intifada. Herve Deguine, the organization's researcher, put together
the report. Israeli and Palestinian officials will no doubt take note
that the reporters group has started that new organization, the Sword of
Damocles.
"We're setting up a network all over the world of lawyers, journalists
and human rights activists to track the movements of people about whom
there is solid evidence regarding their serious violations of human
rights. As soon as someone moves, we'll move to have them arrested on
the basis of international treaties, like the one banning torture. Our
goal is to make sure these people know they can't go free in the world
if they murdered and tortured."
A classic example is Burkina Faso, where its head of the security
services, Gilbert Diendre has been accused by the reporters group for
the December 1998 murder of Norbert Zongo, a local journalist and
publisher. Not long ago, word reached the organization that Diendre was
planning a trip to France. A complaint was readied against him. "We were
ready to hand it to him the moment he landed in France." The colonel
learned about the moves and stayed home.
"Now he can't go anywhere," Menard points out proudly. "You can say
we've ruined his life." Nobody can say for sure how the infamous colonel
found out about the complaint against him, but in Paris they suspect the
authorities tipped him off to avoid the embarrassment of having to
handle the case.
The new system for legal action fits well in the new global arena,
especially after the expansion of international criminal law. A
"developing industry," is what Prof,. Ruth Wedgewood of Yale University
pointedly calls it. The realm of international affairs, until now the
traditional purview of the executive branch, has been opened wide to the
judiciary.
Prosecutors and judges from varying levels of their country's legal
system - and in an ever increasing number of countries - have the
authority to accept complaints against foreigners for matters that have
no territorial connection to the country where the complaint is being
made.
The only requirement is that the complaint has to be based on an
international treaty to which the legal authority's country is a
signatory, like the UN treaty against torture, in the case of the
complaint against Gillon, or the Geneva Convention against War Crimes,
in Sharon's case in Belgium. The judge is allowed to issue an
international warrant, backed up by Interpol, and often despite the
judge's own foreign minister. "We found that it's possible to exploit
the growing autonomy of the legal system against the government," said
Menard. That authority is not limited to only low-ranking citizens. A
judge in Brussels or Madrid could severely sabotage the ability of
ministers and leaders to do their job.
Thus, in the case of Abdoulaye Yerodya Ndombasi, the former foreign
minister of Congo. A complaint was made against him in Belgium,
regarding events that took place during the civil war in his country.
The investigating judge ruled there was enough evidence for an
international warrant. The Congolese minister found himself grounded in
Kinsasha. "Imagine, an African foreign minister who can't travel,"
chortles Menard. "It goes to the heart of his job." Yerodya's boss at
the time, Laurent Desire Kabila, canceled his own travel plans to Europe
from the same worry, even though no formal charge was pending against
him. In 1998 he visited Paris - but only after the authorities gave him
guarantees he wouldn't be arrested.
"The global authority gives us power," says Menard. "And we reached the
conclusion we should use it. because even when the permanent
international crimes tribunal is established, it will be handcuffed by
political interests. We can operate in a supplementary manner in various
countries." He admits, with a bit of pride, that the activity is
bothersome to the diplomatic community. "We make life difficult for
them, no doubt about it," he says, pointing out current tension between
the foreign ministries of France and Belgium and human rights groups.
That tension burst into the open when French Foreign Minister Hubert
Vedrine and Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel published under their
joint byline an article attacking the role the human rights
organizations are playing. They're invading territories that don't
belong to them, complained the foreign ministers. Deguine, the
researcher, with a lot of experience in Africa, focuses on the western
fears of spectacular trials that could disrupt the international order.
"If there had been European legal procedures against Mobuto, the former
leader of Zaire, it would have been impossible to reach the point in
1994 when there was genocide in Rwanda, because the only way to that
genocide went through Zaire."
The next stage in the new legal front could be the real breakthrough -
going up against commercial firms. Menard and Deguine believe that the
developing new legal reality doesn't need to stop at politicians and
rulers but could reach corporations that either passively or actively
were involved in human rights violations.
Kissinger's worried
Henry Kissinger stands out as one of the main voices calling for limits
on universal judicial authority. He warns against a dangerous
combination of law and politics, that could turn into a weapon for
"settling political accounts."
Writing in Foreign Affairs, the former U.S. secretary of state says the
new trend could deter the wrong people - those statesmen who have to
take into account that they could be put on trial if they do what they
believe is in the interests of their country. It's difficult to avoid
the impression that Kissinger is talking about himself.
"It's humiliating, embarrassing and repressive," says Menard. "Imagine
if Henry Kissinger goes to Paris and is called to appear in a case about
the U.S. being an accomplice to the crimes in Chile. The statesmen don't
want to give that kind of power to the human rights groups."
Kissinger naturally would agree. The theoretical possibility that Menard
brought up almost happened. A Paris judge did try to subpoena Kissinger
to answer bothersome questions during the legal proceedings in France
against Augustus Pinochet. Others want to see Kissinger on trial for his
Cambodia policy during the War in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, last week, the Chilean Supreme Court okayed a series of
questions to be posed to Kissinger about the murder of journalist
Charles Harman in Santiago in 1973, during the coup against Salvador
Allende. The 17 questions will reach Kissinger through diplomatic
channels.
The Pinochet of Africa
An African ruler, in the past omnipotent in his own country, but now
feeling the shadow of the Sword of Damocles over his head is former Chad
president Hissene Habre, who's won the name "the Pinochet of Africa." He
was overthrown in 1990, leaving behind a trail of tens of thousands of
dead and tortured.
Habre, 58, found asylum in Senegal, but that country is also under the
influence of the new wave in international law. A local judge opened
proceedings to investigate Habre's crimes against humanity after a
complaint was brought by human rights groups. it was the first time that
an African was indicted on such charges in a court in another African
country. Dakar's Supreme Court ruled that he could not be put on trial
and he was asked to leave the country.
The UN demanded that Senegal postpone Habre's departure until he could
be extradited to another country where he can stand trial. Belgium, of
course, is where he'll probably end up. He's already under investigation
there.
Stefan Smith, Le Monde's Africa expert, told Ha'aretz that Habre is
still in Dakar. He's now looking for political asylum, in a country that
isn't a signatory to the treaty against torture. "Even without a trial,
his life's been ruined," Menard says. "All his corruption, all his
money, he can't get to it."
Where can he go? The procedures against him in Belgium preclude him
going to any normal country. But there is one region of the world that's
open to him - The Middle East. Syria, Iran, and Iraq are some of the
countries in the region that haven't signed the treaty.
But not to worry, Israel did sign it, way back in October 1991. |
.gif){kind=small}
