International Court lacks jurisdiction over Syria (click title to entry - thank you)
Facing a new U.N. call for an international investigation into alleged Syrian attacks on protesters, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, issued a statement Friday reminding the world that he currently has no legal authority to open such a probe.
Only the U.N. Security Council, which is divided over how to respond to the Syrian crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad, can grant the prosecutor the authority to do so.
“The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has received communication from various parties alleging that crimes against humanity, including arbitrary detentions, killings of peaceful demonstrators and torture are being committed in Syria,” according to Florence Olara, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor. “The Office of the Prosecutor at this stage has no jurisdiction to investigate these allegations because Syria is not a State Party to the Rome Statute which governs the ICC.”
Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, asked the U.N. Security Council Thursday to authorize an ICC investigation into alleged Syrian crimes, citing mounting evidence that the government has committed crimes against humanity during its five-month long military operation against mostly peaceful anti-government protesters....
Syria. (click here) This June there were reports that Syrian opposition and human rights groups had asked the OTP to seek authorization for an investigation into alleged crimes by the Syrian government and that discussions about a possible U.N. Security Council referral of the Syrian situation to the ICC were occurring. Since then the Syrian regime has continued to attack and kill protesters with at least 3,500 protesters killed since the uprising began in March. So far the OTP has not commented on Syria.
Recently four U.S. Senators (Dick Durbin, Benjamin Cardin, Robert Menendez and Barbara Boxer) sent a letter to the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. (Susan Rice) asking for such a Security Council referral. They said, “The people of Syria deserve to know that the people of the United States understand their plight, stand behind them, and will work to bring justice to the country.” The Security Council, the Senators added, should be deeply troubled by the “credible threats to . . . [the] safety” of the U.S. Ambassador to Syria that forced him to leave the country. Security Council referral of Syria to the ICC also has been endorsed by the New York Times.
UN rights office calls for ICC trial for Syria officials (click here)
Jerry Votava on February 10, 2012 2:06 PM ET
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] Friday reiterated its call for international action to protect civilians in Syria[JURIST news archive], calling for Syrian officials suspected of crimes against humanity to be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. High Commissioner Navi Pillay [official profile] is now scheduled to address the UN General Assembly [UN News Centre report] on Monday regarding the latest humanitarian developments in Syria, where the ongoing uprising challenging the autocratic rule of President Bashar Assad has resulted in a bloody government crackdown that has seen more than 5,000 people killed since March. Reports of increased violence in recent days [Reuters report] prompted Pillay earlier this week to urge international intervention [JURIST report] on behalf of the Syrian people. General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser [official profile] then made a request for Pillay to brief the 193-member Assembly after she argued that the failure of the UN Security Council [official website] to agree on collective action against Syria has encouraged the Syrian government to attack and kill civilians to quash dissent. The General Assembly also plans to discuss at the session a December report by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] that strongly condemned the recent violence [JURIST report], and upon which the Council passed an emergency resolution calling for the appointment of a special human rights investigator on Syria, the suspension of Syrian security forces suspected of human rights violations and the release of prisoners of conscience held by Syrian authorities. No other UN bodies have acted on the resolution.
UN rights office calls for ICC trial for Syria officials (click here)
Jerry Votava on February 10, 2012 2:06 PM ET
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] Friday reiterated its call for international action to protect civilians in Syria[JURIST news archive], calling for Syrian officials suspected of crimes against humanity to be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. High Commissioner Navi Pillay [official profile] is now scheduled to address the UN General Assembly [UN News Centre report] on Monday regarding the latest humanitarian developments in Syria, where the ongoing uprising challenging the autocratic rule of President Bashar Assad has resulted in a bloody government crackdown that has seen more than 5,000 people killed since March. Reports of increased violence in recent days [Reuters report] prompted Pillay earlier this week to urge international intervention [JURIST report] on behalf of the Syrian people. General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser [official profile] then made a request for Pillay to brief the 193-member Assembly after she argued that the failure of the UN Security Council [official website] to agree on collective action against Syria has encouraged the Syrian government to attack and kill civilians to quash dissent. The General Assembly also plans to discuss at the session a December report by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] that strongly condemned the recent violence [JURIST report], and upon which the Council passed an emergency resolution calling for the appointment of a special human rights investigator on Syria, the suspension of Syrian security forces suspected of human rights violations and the release of prisoners of conscience held by Syrian authorities. No other UN bodies have acted on the resolution.
