|
Viewpoint For oppressors, there must be no save
haven
By NEVE GORDON
By deciding to release Gen. Augusto
Pinochet, Britain has forfeited a historic opportunity. A public trial would
have made it possible to punish the brutal dictator for the murder and torture
of thousands of Chilean citizens and might even have implicated those who
supported and aided his crimes. The CIA was surely apprehensive, and it seems
likely that it exploited its special relationship with Britain to
demand Pinochets release.
Fortunately, Britains pusillanimous decision did not totally
undermine the efforts of those who struggled to bring Pinochet to justice.
First, the very attempt to prosecute Pinochet strengthened the civil forces in
Chile, and they are now striving to revoke his lifelong immunity in order to
indict him. Second, the decision corroborated what human rights activists have
been saying for years: Britain and the United States are often the guardians of
oppressors, rather than the oppressed.
Third, the dictators release weakened the widespread
conception that liberal democracies are the natural protectors of human rights.
While the enlightened Tony Blair let the South American executioner
loose, a primitive Senegalese court indicted Chads exiled
dictator, Hissein Habre, whose regime murdered 40,000 citizens and tortured
thousands more.
Finally, and most important, the Pinochet case set a precedent.
This precedent strengthens human rights by extending their jurisdiction beyond
the nation-state. A Spanish judge could order Pinochets arrest for crimes
committed in Chile precisely because of the universal recognition of human
rights.
Reed Brody, Human Rights Watchs advocacy director, explains
that normally jurisdiction over a crime depends on a link, usually territorial,
between the prosecuting state and the crime itself. However, in the case of
crimes against humanity, any state can bring the perpetrators of crimes of
international concern to justice, no matter where the crime was committed, and
regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or their victims. The Spanish
judges authority, for instance, is derived from the rule of
universal jurisdiction.
Genocide, war crimes and torture are among the human rights
offenses subject to universal jurisdiction under international law. In order to
facilitate the prosecution of leaders accused of crimes against humanity, Human
Rights Watch recently published a list of criminals living in exile. These
include Gens. Raoul Cedras and Philippe Biamby who led the bloody coup against
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti. During their dictatorship, thousands
were killed, tortured and raped. Emmanuel Toto Constant, the leader
of Haitis death squad, now lives in New York and is wanted by Haitian
prosecutors. Perhaps the United States is refusing to extradite him because a
public trial will reveal that he received regular paychecks and encouragement
from the CIA while building his terror network.
The Human Rights Watch report includes Idi Amin and Milton Obote,
both of whom are responsible for the murders of an estimated 100,000 to 300,000
people in Uganda; Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, who used widespread torture
against political opponents; and Mengistu Haile Miriam, who killed tens of
thousands of political opponents during his Red Terror reign in
Ethiopia.
I would like to add two names to the list: Yakov Peri and Jibril
Rajoub. As the former head of Israels secret services, Peri was
responsible for torturing thousands of Palestinians. Although he lives in
Israel, today he is a businessman and could be indicted and imprisoned on one
of his excursions to the United States or Europe. Along the same line, Rajoub,
the current head of the Palestinian secret services, is responsible for the
torture of hundreds of inmates. He, too, travels abroad.
Those who commit crimes against humanity must stop feeling secure.
Universal jurisdiction can be employed to ensure that there will no longer be
safe haven for them - and its up to us to use it.
Neve Gordon teaches human rights in the department of Politics
and Government at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and can be reached at
ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
National Catholic Reporter, April 7,
2000
|
|