Geneva Solutions’s monthly “war criminal hunt” in collaboration with the Geneva-based NGO Civitas Maxima.
At a time where the conflict in the Middle East is becoming more intense by the day, the United Nations, the international mechanism that should be the guarantor of international peace and security,, continues to demonstrate its inability to live up to its role. As for the International Criminal Court (ICC), it will have to contend with the hostility demonstrated by certain European governments on its investigations into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is likely that sooner or later, criminal complaints will multiply before national courts in Europe, using the dual European nationality of the victims, or the presence in Europe of those accused of the crimes.
However, there is one significant criminal complaint filed this month in South America that reminds us that one continent does not have the monopoly on justice for international crimes. On 7 November, a complaint was filed in Argentina against the former president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. As well as being under investigation in his own country for witness tampering and illegal surveillance of journalists, the 11 victims and three Colombian NGOs behind the complaint maintain that the former Colombian leader must be held responsible for the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions, both qualified as crimes against humanity, that occurred during his presidency.
These acts were part of a practice dubbed as false positives (falsos positivos) that claimed more than 6,400 victims. Between 2002 and 2008, civilians were murdered by various army divisions across the country and were presented as insurgents killed at the battlefield. The number of these killings was used as a marker of the success of the Uribe government in its war against the guerrillas.
Beyond its political and economic turpitudes and a leap into the unknown with the recent election of Javier Milei, Argentina has come to be a land of justice for international crimes, thanks to the determination of its victims. Such victims were pioneers in the quest for justice for the crimes committed on their soil during the military regime in place between 1976 and 1983. In April 1977, at the height of the military dictatorship, mothers of people that were forcibly disappeared, known as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, began marching weekly to demand justice for their loved ones. Years of legal proceedings later, the former president of the military junta, Jorge Rafael Videla, was tried in four different criminal cases. In July 2012, he was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment and died in custody at the age of 87 in May 2013.
Today, Argentinian legislation goes beyond this. It authorises foreign victims to seek justice before its courts, without the accused having to be physically present in Argentina, or the victims to be Argentinian. It is this legislation which, a few days ago, enabled Colombian plaintiffs to lodge the complaint against their former president. It is not just Colombian victims who are rushing to Buenos Aires to seek redress. In the past few years, Argentinian judicial authorities have received cases from: Rohingya Muslims demanding justice for an alleged genocide committed by the Burmese junta, Venezuelans fighting against violent repression under the Nicolás Maduro government, and Spanish victims filing a complaint for crimes committed by Franco’s troops in Spain.
As modest as it may seem in view of the suffering currently endured by so many victims of atrocities, international law is being used imaginatively to seek justice beyond borders and can be a source of hope for victims of armed conflicts.
Here’s what else happened this month
– Life sentence for former Gambian death squad member – A German regional court found Bai Lowe guilty of crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder for his role as a driver for the “Junglers” military group, which, according to federal prosecutors, was “used by the then-president of The Gambia to carry out illegal killing orders, among other things.” The list of alleged crimes, committed between 2003 and 2006, also included the murder of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004. The Gambia was ruled by Yahya Jammeh for 22 years, and his regime was marked by widespread abuses. Trial International and other NGOs contacted German authorities in 2019 to alert them about Lowe’s presence in the country, which led to his arrest in 2021.
– Companies to answer for climate justice. A court in Switzerland has granted four Indonesian residents legal aid in their case against Swiss cement company Holcim, for its role in the climate change that is causing their island, Pari, to sink. The landmark case – the first time a Swiss court weighs in on whether a corporation can be held liable under civil law for contributing to climate change, comes amid several other cases against companies from victims seeking environmental justice.
French NGO, Sherpa, has filed a complaint against four banks for crimes related to their financial support of operations contributing to illegal deforestation in Brazil. Meanwhile, a British Court has ruled that the pollution of water caused by Shell oil spills is a violation of the human right to a clean environment, which will allow the residents of the Niger Delta to take their case against the company to court. In another case, the Swiss Federal Court has refused the request for increased transparency of supply chains in the gold sector.
– Human rights of migrants before national and international bodies. The High Court of Australia has ruled that the country’s policy of indefinite immigration detention is unlawful, leading to the release of up to 92 people that had been detained under these regulations. In another case where a controversial national immigration policy was taken to court, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has ruled that its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda violates both British and international human rights law.
Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights has awarded damages to two asylum seekers who, while heavily pregnant, were forced to live in conditions in Samos, Greece, that amounted to inhumane and degrading treatment. A complaint has also been lodged by NGO Redress before the UN’s Human Rights Committee, on behalf of an Eritrean migrant who was tortured in Libya.
– The Syrian regime before European courts. A French court has issued international arrest warrants for Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad and other high-ranking officials of his regime, including his brother, for their use of chemical weapons in the country in 2013. Despite having immunity as an acting head of state, international law provides exceptions for international crimes. In a separate case in the Netherlands, Mustafa A., former member of a rebel group linked to the al-Assad regime, will be heard on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, after SCM, a Syria-based NGO, lodged a complaint to Dutch authorities.
– Universal jurisdiction cases move forward in France. Investigative judges have ordered the trial of former Congolese warlord, Roger Lumbala Tshitenga, who was arrested for his alleged role in crimes against humanity including murder, torture, rape, pillage and enslavement, committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 2002 and 2003. Trial hearings also began this month on the case of genocide and crimes against humanity of Rwandan doctor Sosthène Munyemana before the French Criminal Court.
– Karim Khan makes Israel-Palestine announcements. After referrals by five countries, and filings of a cases of genocide by groups of both Palestinian and Israeli victims, the prosecutor of the ICC confirmed that any crimes committed during the current Israel-Hamas war that started after Hamas’s 7 October attacks fall under the scope of its investigations into the situation in Palestine].
– The ICC switches focus on Uganda. The court also announced the end of its war crimes investigations into Vincent Otti, deputy leader of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), based on evidence that he was killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007. It is seeking to revive its case against Ugandan militant Joseph Kony, the founder of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which was designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations, , and will soon decide whether to hold his trial in absentia.
– Bosnian court hands down prison sentences for mass execution. Ten former soldiers of the Bosnian Serb Army have been sentenced to a total of 162 years in prison for the execution of twenty-four Bosniak villagers in 1992. The length of the prison sentences was decided by the judge to reflect the brutality of the crimes, as the soldiers forced the men to dig their own graves.
– African and Caribbean leaders hold slavery reparations summit in Ghana. Fifty-five African and 20 Caribbean countries agreed to establish a global reparations fund to seek compensation for the 12 million Africans enslaved by European nations between the 16th and 19th centuries.
– Judges to investigate UK agency’s role in Guantanamo torture. A British investigatory tribunal has announced that it will look into the role of British secret services in the torture and mistreatment of a Guantanamo bay detainee by US forces.
Picture: Emblème de la justice. COMMONS WIKIMEDIA
