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Impunity and Human Rights
By Alex Neve
SOURCE: http://www.icomm.ca/~ccvt/impunity.html
DATE: Summer 2000
On July 7, 2000 Canada became the 14th state to officially ratify what is
commonly known as the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute, agreed to by 120 states in
July 1998, lays the ground for the eventual establishment of an International
Criminal Court. However, 46 more ratifications are needed before the court will
come into being.
Such a court would have the power to try individuals responsible for genocide,
war criminals, and criminals against humanity. Such a court would play an
absolutely critical role in tackling what is unquestionably one of the most
serious obstacles to human rights protection in the world today - impunity. Such
a court would become one of the most important human rights institutions on the
planet.
And it is so necessary. For impunity does still reign supreme. Over the
centuries torturers, architects of genocide, members of death squads and
countless others who flagrantly abuse the basic rights of their fellow citizens,
have gone confidently about their evil work, certain that they would face no
repercussions. No justice, no penalty, no price to pay for their misdeeds. In
fact, there has usually been much to gain, as persecutors have instead enjoyed
rewards such as political power, economic gain and even international prestige.
No surprise then that torture, disappearances and political killings continue
unabated. The consistent lesson is that it is worth it.
We live in a world where the murder of one person is more likely to be punished
than the massacre of ten thousand. But we live in a world that is finally waking
up to the fact that this is terribly, terribly wrong.
The Rome Statute was a tremendous breakthrough. One hundred and twenty
governments agreed that it was time to ensure international justice for the
world's worst human rights abusers. Two years later we are still shy of even 25%
of the requisite number of ratifications which would lead to the birth of the
court, but things are speeding up and there is good reason to be confident that
we will reach the threshold of 60 before too long. There certainly continues to
be a pressing need to urge governments to take that step and ratify.
The Pinochet case in the United Kingdom was also a tremendous breakthrough. The
unequivocal ruling established that Augusto Pinochet's responsibility for
torture in Chile was a matter of international concern, could be litigated in
courts outside Chile, and could not be excused by a perverse attempt to hide
behind his status as a former head of state. That he was allowed to return to
Chile on the basis of controversial medical findings does not detract from that
in anyway. And now, the Chilean courts, seemingly energized by their judicial
colleagues in London, have picked up the torch, and the possibility that justice
will be done in Chile is a real possibility, after close to a decade of it being
an absolute impossibility.
But against this backdrop the past two years have given us more heart-wrenching
reminders of how deeply impunity is entrenched around the world.
In 1999, the world was faced with human rights catastrophes in Kosovo and East
Timor. In both cases, human rights violators had raped, killed and disappeared
men, women and children for years, and had paid no price. In 1999, the world
watched while the parties to Sierra Leone's vicious civil war signed a peace
agreement which granted an absolute amnesty to those who had carried out
unimaginable human rights violations. The brutal campaign of Sierra Leone's
Revolutionary United Front rebels under the leadership of Foday Sankoh saw the
feet and hands of children amputated, large numbers of women raped, and
countless civilians massacred. But in the name of peace all that was forgotten
and forgiven. No surprise then that within months that false peace came unglued
and the rebels began committing the same atrocities again. One year and far too
many victims later some of the rebels, notably Foday Sankoh, are in custody and
the world again debates what to do. This time there can be no question, no
doubt. There must be justice.
Impunity sailed into Canada this summer as well. In the midst of a Tall Ships
festival, celebrating the seafaring era and the grandeur of ocean-going
schooners and barquentines, the Esmeralda, a beautiful Chilean ship, arrived in
Halifax and Quebec City. Beautiful yes, but the Esmeralda has an ugly past,
having served as a detention and torture centre immediately following the 1973
coup in Chile. Countless men and women were tortured onboard, many died, many
disappeared. The navy has never admitted what happened, has never allowed an
investigation and has never brought those responsible to justice. This despite
the fact that the Chilean government's own Truth and Reconciliation Commission
documented that these horrors did in fact occur below the Esmeralda's majestic
decks. Amnesty International members and other human rights activists protested
in both cities. The protest carried one simple request - that there be justice.
Chilean officials responded by denying that the ship had ever been used in this
way and by accusing the activists of living in the past while they looked to a
bright future. But that is precisely the point. When it comes to human rights,
unless we commit ourselves to accounting for the past, the future will never be
bright.
Alex Neve is Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada (English-speaking
branch)
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