World
Citizen Letters WCL
429
by John Roberts, Peace rights, 11/2003
At the London School of Economics on 8 November a
panel of distinguished academic lawyers took on
the task of undertaking a Legal Inquiry and investigating "Aspects
of the Military Operations against
and subsequent Occupation of Iraq during 2003". This proved to
be a very successful enterprise, with
several particular points illustrating the illegality of what has gone
on in Iraq during the past eleven months.
There will be a ruling issued by the panel of eight professors of international
law in a few weeks
time, which will cover many issues connected with the invasion and
its aftermath. However, the coming
into force of the statute of the International Criminal Court in the
summer has marked a change in what
remedies may be available if law has been breached and that is mightily
important.
Despite that change, the panel emphasised that there were
other, domestic, channels open to litigants
against war-crimes, for example, in the US the Proxmire Act making
genocide illegal and other acts
supporting international law which date back to the Second World War
and even before. The significant step
forward made by the Inquiry is to gather together a number of such
remedies and assess their
particular values and opportunities, as well as indicating where there
is most likelihood of law being a
suitable action to prevent or punish aggression. The fact that
the post-war Nuremberg judgements were
spoken of as Victors'Justice was mentioned, but not the subsequent
ratification by the United Nations and
inclusion in the body of international law.
But we need to await the findings of the Inquiry
in anticipation of useful legal argument and discussion
that will forward the moves against illegality and war-crimes.
It was never a task of the Inquiry to charge
anyone, although it may forward recommendations and findings to the
Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court. However it is conceivable that that official
may be inhibited by adverse political power -
the US has already spent much effort in trying to sabotage the establishment
of the Court and is continuing
efforts to frustrate its working. Therefore "the interests of
justice", i.e. discretion being the better part of
valour, may make it politic not to tackle the leading criminals first
of all. A new-born court may need to
exercise its powers on lesser fry, such as the British, until its routines
and administration are practised and
shown to be working well.
But what other work of enquiry remains to be done?
When one considers that in Britain an enormous
manhunt has been conducted recently for traces of the murder of two
schoolgirls, no expense spared, it is
worth comparing the British government's lack of concern to discover
its true position in international law.
The Prime Minister, tossing off the assurance in the House of Commons
that Britain will always observe
international law, took the perfunctory step of ascertaining what that
was from the paid government lawyer,
the Attorney-General. The lawyer, naturally enough, read the
law so that it suited the PM, who
had already determined to follow the lead of George Dubya Bush, and
Britain went to war. Despite
protestations that the allied aggressors had no choice but to attack,
recent reports indicate that Saddam
Hussein was at the end making desperate attempts to surrender sufficient
power in order to avoid any military
attack, but he was ignored. One need spare no sympathy for the
fallen dictator, but the burden
of the criminal acts of the American and British forces have fallen
upon his unfortunate subjects.
Peacerights, the organisers of the day, which is
headed by a committee of activists and leading academic
and practising lawyers, is already planning a further Inquiry, which
may be concerned with British nuclear
weapons and, after its notable success with the LSE event, that should
also be well worth following. So
what remains to be done? At Istanbul it was suggested
that London might be the venue for another
Tribunal of Inquiry which would consider in detail the period up to
and including the attack on Iraq, i.e. the
period before the International Criminal Court was set up. This
of course is an even hotter potato, since it
concerns the biggest question that the British government, particularly
fears - was the attack illegal? But a
recent request from Kofi Annan to all members of the United Nations
for proposals to strengthen the
safeguards against war are a reminder that wider issues should also
be addressed.
A new Tribunal of Inquiry could study
the present state of
international law preventing war and international violence;
including its
defects in constitution and administration; and consider
framing any
possible charges of war-crimes against British ministers arising from
the
years from 1992 to 2003. Particular areas of concern should be:
1. The United Nations Charter and proper functioning
from its inception.
2. NATO and the legality of military alliances under
the Charter.
3. The legality of extending NATO military action
beyond Europe.
4. A 'democratic deficit' in international institutions
and law.
5. The legality of American and British bombing
of Iraq after the first
Gulf War without continuing Security
Council authorisation.
6. The legality of U.N. sanctions against Iraq without
explicit Security
Council authority.
7. Legal meaning and implications of Security Council
Resolution no.
1441.
8. Extent and legal limitations of the 'right of
self-defence' for
member-states.
9. The legality of the attack on Iraq by Britain
and the US in 2003.
10. The rights, if any, to take 'pre-emptive action',
including military
measures and the whole question
of 'humanitarian intervention'.
That would be a very substantial task to be undertaken and it
goes a good
deal further then Kofi Annan has suggested. Nevertheless, the
governments
that can splash out billions to wage a dangerous and illegal war could
certainly afford to pay for lawyers to determine the legality of their
actions. If, that is, they declare, as Tony Blair did, that his country
will always abide by international law.
John Roberts, Peace rights , 11/03
THE ANTIDOTE TO RACISM AND NATIONALISM - WORLD CITIZENSHIP
NOTE - This series of World Citizen Letters presents an individual
world citizen viewpoint that may also suit world federalists and
other activists for peace
and human unity. You are welcome to use material here for sending
to others who may be interested. If you have received
this World Citizen Letter from a
friend and would like to receive others, please request to jrmundialist@aol.com
Please note that two web-sites so far contain World
Citizen Letters. The World Citizen Foundation
(http://www.worldcitizen.org) is planning to put
all the 350 plus World Letters on its website and on
(http://www.vanguardonline.f9.co.uk/jrarchiv.htm) World News and Vanguard
Online offers an edited selection.