10-23-2016, 09:03 PM
*** 24-Oct-16 World View -- South Africa's withdrawal throws future of International Criminal Court into doubt
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** South Africa's withdrawal throws future of International Criminal Court into doubt
****
![[Image: g161023b.jpg]](http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g161023b.jpg)
International Criminal Court in the Hague (Getty)
A week after Burundi announced it was withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC)
in the
Hague, South Africa's president Jacob Zuma announced that it would do
the same. In each case, the withdrawal becomes effective one year
after the ICC receives notice.
South Africa's action was triggered by Burundi's withdrawal, and also
because the ICC criticized Zuma's administration for failing to arrest Sudan's leader Omar al-Bashir
when he visited Johannesburg for an African Union summit
last year.
The ICC was set up in 2002 by the Rome Statute, which 123 countries
have ratified, although the US is notably absent. Its purpose is to
bring to justice those responsible for genocide, crimes against
humanity, and war crimes -- terms that are all defined in detail in
the Rome Statute.
However, in its 16 year existence, it's only prosecuted African
states. Since 2014, the African Union has urged member states not to
co-operate with the ICC, accusing it of being racially biased against
Africa. Uganda, Kenya and Namibia have also discussed withdrawing
from the ICC.
For South Africa, the government is currently in chaos because of
corruption accusations leveled at Jacob Zuma. Zuma's opposition
Democratic Alliance is opposed to the decision, as described by
James Selfe, a leading official:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"The Democratic Alliance is disgusted at this
> decision. We think it sends out an entirely incorrect message
> around our commitment to human rights and our abhorrence of human
> rights abuses and of genocide, and we believe that it would set
> back our foreign policy and the way in which South Africa is
> viewed in a very fundamental way.
>
> We also believe that the decision itself has been taken in a way
> which is unconstitutional, unlawful. Accordingly, we will we will
> be lodging papers in the constitutional court on Monday morning
> seeking the court’s ruling seeking that it reviews and sets aside
> this decision by the South African government."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
According to activist opposition leader Mosiuoa Lekota:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"This government continues to destroy all the good and
> hard work that the former Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo
> Mbeki spent many years to build. Now everything has been thrown
> out of the window."
>
> Pulling out of the ICC will expose our children to war crimes in
> South Africa without recourse to a higher court."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
Selfe added that a decision to withdraw from the ICC would require a
vote by the parliament. Times Live (South Africa) and VOA and BBC and Foreign Policy
Related Articles
****
**** Is the ICC racially biased against Africans?
****
It's just an accident of history that the ICC appears to be biased
against Africans. There have been war crimes trials against other
nations, but they've taken place in other courts. The African nation
whining about bias know this, but they're looking for an excuse to
avoid being held responsible for their crimes, even though it's the
victims of the crimes that really want to see the court trials take
place.
There are trials targeting the Khmer Rouge for their alleged war
crimes in Cambodia's "killing fields" war in the 1970s, but that trial
is being held in the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of
Cambodia" (ECCC) in Angk Snuol, Cambodia.
There's a trial targeting Ratko Mladic for atrocities committed at the
1995 Srebrenica massacre in the Bosnian war, but that trial is being
conducted in a special court called the "International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia" in The Hague.
There were trials in 1945 for Nazi war criminals, but they were held
in special courts in Nuremberg, Germany. Japan's war crimes trials
were held in 1946 in the International Military Tribunal for the Far
East (IMTFE) in Tokyo.
So, taken as a whole, war crimes courts have certainly not
specifically targeted Africa. Deutsche Welle and Human Rights Watch and Rome Statute creating the ICC
Related Articles
****
**** The fallacy of prosecuting war crimes
****
Since World War II, this idea of prosecuting genocide and war crimes
has been latched on to as a way to save the world. Ever since the
Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, "Never again!" must have uttered by
politicians thousands of times, referring to the Holocaust.
And yet the Nuremberg trials didn't prevent Mao Zedong from killing 45
million people in the Great Leap Forward genocide (1958-59); didn't
prevent Pol Pot from killing 8 million people in the Cambodia Killing
Fields genocide (1975-79); didn't prevent 8 million people from being
killed in the Rwanda genocide (1994); didn't prevent Robert Mugabe
from committing the Operation Gukurahundi genocide in Zimbabwe (1984);
and isn't preventing Bashar al-Assad from committing genocide in Syria
today, with the help of war criminals Vladimir Putin of Russia and
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei of Iran.
Shakespeare wrote in Venus and Adonis: "Were beauty under twenty locks
kept fast, Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last," a
couplet that's often summarized as "Love laughs at locksmiths." Just
as love laughs at locksmiths, war crimes laugh at the ICC.
No one could seriously believe that Adolf Hitler would have cancelled
the Holocaust out of fear of being prosecuted by some court. Or that
Mao Zedong would have canceled the Great Leap Forward for a similar
reason. The whole concept is absurd.
Love, sex and genocide are all part of the base human DNA. They do
not respect skin color, geography, race or religion. From the point
of view of Generational Dynamics, they are part of every human's core
makeup, and they are the way the world works, whether we like it or
not.
So the politicians in South Africa and Burundi see Bashar al-Assad in
a full-scale genocide in Syria, and they're asking, "Why the hell is
the ICC picking on us Africans? Go pick on Bashar al-Assad, and just
let us go on committing atrocities, torturing, mutilating and
exterminating people we dislike, and stop bothering us about it."
Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, International Criminal Court, ICC,
Burundi, South Africa, Jacob Zuma, Sudan, Omar al-Bashir,
Mosiuoa Lekota, Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, Killing fields,
Ratko Mladic, Srebrenica massacre, Bosnian war, James Selfe,
Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, Nuremberg, Japan, Holocaust,
China, Mao Zedong, Great Leap Forward,
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Operation Gukurahundi,
Syria, Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, Russia,
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran,
Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- South Africa's withdrawal throws future of International Criminal Court into doubt
- Is the ICC racially biased against Africans?
- The fallacy of prosecuting war crimes
****
**** South Africa's withdrawal throws future of International Criminal Court into doubt
****
International Criminal Court in the Hague (Getty)
A week after Burundi announced it was withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC)
in the
Hague, South Africa's president Jacob Zuma announced that it would do
the same. In each case, the withdrawal becomes effective one year
after the ICC receives notice.
South Africa's action was triggered by Burundi's withdrawal, and also
because the ICC criticized Zuma's administration for failing to arrest Sudan's leader Omar al-Bashir
when he visited Johannesburg for an African Union summit
last year.
The ICC was set up in 2002 by the Rome Statute, which 123 countries
have ratified, although the US is notably absent. Its purpose is to
bring to justice those responsible for genocide, crimes against
humanity, and war crimes -- terms that are all defined in detail in
the Rome Statute.
However, in its 16 year existence, it's only prosecuted African
states. Since 2014, the African Union has urged member states not to
co-operate with the ICC, accusing it of being racially biased against
Africa. Uganda, Kenya and Namibia have also discussed withdrawing
from the ICC.
For South Africa, the government is currently in chaos because of
corruption accusations leveled at Jacob Zuma. Zuma's opposition
Democratic Alliance is opposed to the decision, as described by
James Selfe, a leading official:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"The Democratic Alliance is disgusted at this
> decision. We think it sends out an entirely incorrect message
> around our commitment to human rights and our abhorrence of human
> rights abuses and of genocide, and we believe that it would set
> back our foreign policy and the way in which South Africa is
> viewed in a very fundamental way.
>
> We also believe that the decision itself has been taken in a way
> which is unconstitutional, unlawful. Accordingly, we will we will
> be lodging papers in the constitutional court on Monday morning
> seeking the court’s ruling seeking that it reviews and sets aside
> this decision by the South African government."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
According to activist opposition leader Mosiuoa Lekota:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"This government continues to destroy all the good and
> hard work that the former Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo
> Mbeki spent many years to build. Now everything has been thrown
> out of the window."
>
> Pulling out of the ICC will expose our children to war crimes in
> South Africa without recourse to a higher court."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
Selfe added that a decision to withdraw from the ICC would require a
vote by the parliament. Times Live (South Africa) and VOA and BBC and Foreign Policy
Related Articles
- South Africa defies International Criminal Court, al-Bashir flies free (16-Jun-2015)
- Darfur in Sudan facing new genocide as refugees are expelled from camps (08-Sep-2016)
- Zimbabwe launching a Soviet style command agriculture program (20-Aug-2016)
****
**** Is the ICC racially biased against Africans?
****
It's just an accident of history that the ICC appears to be biased
against Africans. There have been war crimes trials against other
nations, but they've taken place in other courts. The African nation
whining about bias know this, but they're looking for an excuse to
avoid being held responsible for their crimes, even though it's the
victims of the crimes that really want to see the court trials take
place.
There are trials targeting the Khmer Rouge for their alleged war
crimes in Cambodia's "killing fields" war in the 1970s, but that trial
is being held in the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of
Cambodia" (ECCC) in Angk Snuol, Cambodia.
There's a trial targeting Ratko Mladic for atrocities committed at the
1995 Srebrenica massacre in the Bosnian war, but that trial is being
conducted in a special court called the "International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia" in The Hague.
There were trials in 1945 for Nazi war criminals, but they were held
in special courts in Nuremberg, Germany. Japan's war crimes trials
were held in 1946 in the International Military Tribunal for the Far
East (IMTFE) in Tokyo.
So, taken as a whole, war crimes courts have certainly not
specifically targeted Africa. Deutsche Welle and Human Rights Watch and Rome Statute creating the ICC
Related Articles
- Sri Lanka joining the torture club, with Syria, Burundi, Zimbabwe (14-Jan-2016)
- Burundi lawmakers vote to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) (13-Oct-2016)
- Uganda calls for mass Africa pullout from International Criminal Court (13-Dec-2014)
****
**** The fallacy of prosecuting war crimes
****
Since World War II, this idea of prosecuting genocide and war crimes
has been latched on to as a way to save the world. Ever since the
Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, "Never again!" must have uttered by
politicians thousands of times, referring to the Holocaust.
And yet the Nuremberg trials didn't prevent Mao Zedong from killing 45
million people in the Great Leap Forward genocide (1958-59); didn't
prevent Pol Pot from killing 8 million people in the Cambodia Killing
Fields genocide (1975-79); didn't prevent 8 million people from being
killed in the Rwanda genocide (1994); didn't prevent Robert Mugabe
from committing the Operation Gukurahundi genocide in Zimbabwe (1984);
and isn't preventing Bashar al-Assad from committing genocide in Syria
today, with the help of war criminals Vladimir Putin of Russia and
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei of Iran.
Shakespeare wrote in Venus and Adonis: "Were beauty under twenty locks
kept fast, Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last," a
couplet that's often summarized as "Love laughs at locksmiths." Just
as love laughs at locksmiths, war crimes laugh at the ICC.
No one could seriously believe that Adolf Hitler would have cancelled
the Holocaust out of fear of being prosecuted by some court. Or that
Mao Zedong would have canceled the Great Leap Forward for a similar
reason. The whole concept is absurd.
Love, sex and genocide are all part of the base human DNA. They do
not respect skin color, geography, race or religion. From the point
of view of Generational Dynamics, they are part of every human's core
makeup, and they are the way the world works, whether we like it or
not.
So the politicians in South Africa and Burundi see Bashar al-Assad in
a full-scale genocide in Syria, and they're asking, "Why the hell is
the ICC picking on us Africans? Go pick on Bashar al-Assad, and just
let us go on committing atrocities, torturing, mutilating and
exterminating people we dislike, and stop bothering us about it."
Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, International Criminal Court, ICC,
Burundi, South Africa, Jacob Zuma, Sudan, Omar al-Bashir,
Mosiuoa Lekota, Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, Killing fields,
Ratko Mladic, Srebrenica massacre, Bosnian war, James Selfe,
Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, Nuremberg, Japan, Holocaust,
China, Mao Zedong, Great Leap Forward,
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Operation Gukurahundi,
Syria, Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, Russia,
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran,
Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
