Latest news with #International Criminal Court
NHK
3 days ago
- Politics
- NHK
Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia-Herzegovina marks 30th anniversary
The 30th anniversary of what is known as Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two was marked on Friday in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In July 1995, armed Bosnian Serbs seized the eastern town of Srebrenica and murdered more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims who were taking shelter there. The massacre occurred amid a fierce ethnic conflict during the break-up of Yugoslavia. The commander of the armed forces has been sentenced to life in prison by a United Nations tribunal. The tribunal was the first war crimes court created by the world body and paved the way for the establishment of the International Criminal Court. A ceremony commemorating the massacre also took place on the same day near where the tribunal used to be located in the Dutch city of The Hague. A newly erected monument was unveiled in the ceremony. A man taking part in the ceremony said it is important to keep pressure on those who broke the peace, in view of what is happening in the world today. Speaking about the war tribunal, Professor Kubo Keiichi at Waseda University says the political and military leaders of the Bosnian Serbs were defiant in the beginning, but were eventually forced to take responsibility due to the firm stand taken by the international community. He said it is crucial to keep saying "no" to war crimes. He argued that the international community should learn lessons from these developments and never give up its efforts to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes committed in such places as Ukraine and Palestine. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and others over suspected war crimes.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Evidence Supports War Crimes Allegations in Darfur, I.C.C. Prosecutor Says
The International Criminal Court said on Thursday it had 'reasonable grounds' to conclude that war crimes and crimes against humanity were unfolding in Sudan's western Darfur region, where the county's civil war has thrust the region into a deepening catastrophe. 'The humanitarian position has reached an intolerable state,' the court's deputy prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday. 'People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized. Abductions for ransom or to bolster the ranks of armed groups have become common practice.' Among the court's worst findings was 'an inescapable pattern' of women and girls being raped or subjected to other sexual violence because of their gender and ethnicity, Ms. Khan said. While Ms. Khan did not specify who had committed the war crimes in the court's findings, both of the warring parties in the civil war have previously been accused of atrocities by officials from the United States, the United Nations and human rights groups. The determination that war crimes were being committed came after the prosecutor's office collected about 7,000 pieces of evidence, including the testimony of victims, Ms. Khan said. Investigators have made repeated trips to speak with victim groups and to interview witnesses in refugee camps in neighboring Chad, where many people from Darfur have fled. Sudan's civil war erupted in April 2023 and the brutal fighting has killed tens of thousands of people, driven millions more from their homes and caused widespread famine. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
How Israel lost its best friend in Latin America
Colombia and South Africa will convene an emergency conference on Gaza in Bogota on Tuesday calling on ministers from states across the world to deliberate a multilateral defense of international law, focusing on Israeli atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The two countries co-chair The Hague Group of 10 nations from the Global South formed in January to protect and uphold rulings on the Israeli Palestinan conflict by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. The aim of the conference is to urgently develop 'concrete legal, diplomatic and economic measures that can halt Israel's destruction – and uphold the foundational principle that no state is above the law.' All countries are invited. For the past several years, Colombia has led a fundamental change in Latin America to turn the tide against Israel there, a change that has accelerated since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023. This change is remarkable, considering that Colombia had been historically a close partner of Israel. Until 2018, it was one of the few remaining governments in Latin America that did not recognize Palestine as a state. Israel was Colombia's main partner in the Middle East and North Africa, while Colombia was Israel's second-largest trading partner in South America. For decades, Colombia's military had a close relationship with Israel's. It acquired numerous weapon systems and ammunition produced and/or maintained by Israel, including the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Spike missile, the Israel Weapons Industries-made 5.56mm Galil automatic rifle machinegun and .7.62mm Galil sniper rifle, Rafael Python-3 and Python-4 air-to-air missiles, and Israel Aerospace Industries Kfir fighter jets, and has signed up for the Barak MX air defense system. It all began to change with Colombia's recognition of the state of Palestine in 2018. Although that drew a strong diplomatic reaction from Israel, their partnership survived. In October 2023, however, Colombia condemned Israel's conduct in Gaza and recalled its ambassador. President Gustavo Petro compared the Israeli military to Nazis. Later that month, Israel halted all security exports to Colombia. In April 2024, Colombia joined 24 other states and international organizations in becoming a party to South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice alleging genocide in the Gaza Strip, in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The longer Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, the more Latin and South American nations are breaking their historical ties with Tel Aviv Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg Then, in April this year, Colombia said it would buy up to 24 fighter jets from Swedish company Saab to replace the ageing Israel-made Kfir, whose maintenance has become complicated after Israel and Colombia broke diplomatic ties and stopped military cooperation. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war crimes in Gaza have lost Israel a close ally and the breakup is now near complete. Petro published an opinion article in The Guardian last week on why Colombia had decided to break ties with Israel, in which he said his country had a 'duty to stand up to Israel.' Without such decisive action, the president said, the world risked 'stripping the global legal order of its remaining protections.' For more than 600 days, Netanyahu had led 'a campaign of devastation in Gaza, the escalation of regional conflict, and a reckless abandonment of international law at large,' Petro said. The UN has declared Gaza the 'hungriest place on Earth,' and said its mission to send aid was 'one of the most obstructed … in recent history.' The Hague emergency conference next week is an effort to bring about collective action to counter Israel's accelerated steps to isolate and starve Palestinians in Gaza into submission and kill as many of them as possible to push the rest to leave. Last September, Colombia voted with the majority at the UN to censure Israel and set a deadline of 12 months for it to 'bring to an end without delay its unlawful presence' in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Bogota then began a series of concrete actions to implement the UN resolution, by conducting investigations and prosecutions regarding Israel-connected activities in the country: it applied sanctions and asset freezes against Israeli interests, stopped imports from Israel, especially arms, and stopped coal exports to Israel. Petro said that without such decisive action, 'we risk turning the multilateral system into a talking shop, stripping the legal order of its remaining protections for small, developing and less privileged nations – from west Asia to right here in Latin America,' who rely on the protections provided by international law and multilateral organizations. Colombia has stepped up to the challenge and Petro did not mince words. 'The choice before us is stark and unforgiving. We can either stand firm in defense of the legal principles that seek to prevent war and conflict, or watch helplessly as the international system collapses under the weight of unchecked power politics,' he said. Colombia's brave stand is in sharp contrast with many states that have failed to implement this UN resolution, or other similar international sanctions, allowing economic or other calculations to override their moral duties. For some states, fear of reprisals from Israel and its ally the US has played a key role in that failure. Colombia's position marks a seismic shift among Latin American countries, which in the past supported Israel. They played a decisive role in supporting the 1947 UN partition plan that led to the establishment of Israel, with 13 of them voting in favor. Streets in Jerusalem, such as Guatemala Street, Brazil Street, Costa Rica Street and Mexico Street, are named after these countries in recognition of that role. But the Gaza war is changing that. Now most counties in South and Latin America vote at the UN with the majority of nations in support of Palestinian rights, and recognize the state of Palestine. In addition to Colombia, Chile has also joined South Africa's genocide case. Brazil, Colombia, Chile and others have recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv and strongly condemned Israeli actions. In 2023, Belize and Bolivia severed diplomatic relations with Israel. However, Israel still has friends there, such as Argentina under the current rightist government, Guatemala, Panama and several others. The longer Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and the more it blatantly breaks international law and rejects initiatives to deescalate, the more Latin and South American nations are breaking their historical ties with Tel Aviv, despite the heavy price they may have to pay. Colombia is a perfect example of a friend-turned-foe as a result of Israeli intransigence. * Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC. X: @abuhamad1
