Prosecuting International Crimes and Human Rights Abuses Committed Against Children: Leading International Court Cases

1126 Pages·2010·4.83 MB·English

by  Sonja C. Grover (auth.)

Prosecuting International Crimes and
Human Rights Abuses Committed Against Children
Sonja C. Grover
Prosecuting
International Crimes and
Human Rights Abuses
Committed Against Children
Leading International Court Cases
Prof.SonjaC.Grover
LakeheadUniversity
FacultyofEducation
955OliverRoad
ThunderBayONP7B5E1
Canada
[email protected]
ISBN978-3-642-00517-6 e-ISBN978-3-642-00518-3
DOI:10.1007/978-3-642-00518-3
SpringerHeidelbergDordrechtLondonNewYork
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Dedication
Tothechildvictimsofatrocityandallmannerofhumanrightsabuses
Those children named and unnamed, heard and unheard, past, present and sadly
thoseyettobevictimized
Justicecanneverbeperfectenough tooffersolaceorrecompensetothoseofyou
lostorthosewhosurvived
Butsuchmeasureofjusticeastheinternationalcommunitycanmusterisyetyour
entitlementasimperfectasitundoubtedlyis
Inprosecutingsomeoftheperpetrators,allofhumanityisheldtoaccount
Lightisshedonwhatsurelycouldhaveandshouldhavebeendonetopreventsuch
inhumanity
Inthehopesthatyoursufferingnotbedeniedandsuchchildvictimizationbecomes
lessandlesstherealityastimepassesuntilitisnomore
v
Preface
Thiscasebookaddressesselectedprecedent-settingrulingsofvariousinternational
humanrightsandinternationalcriminalcourtswithafocusonthechildvictimsof
international crimes and human rights abuses. The cases are analysed from the
children’shumanrightsperspectiveandthequestionisexaminedastowhatextent
the aforementioned courts are according these children justice. The scope of the
book is thus limited to the consideration of these representative important cases
concerning violations of (a) international human rights and humanitarian law and
(b) international criminal law involving child victims and the judicial remedies
accordedordeniedthesevictimsandtheirfamilymembers. Thisisnotinanyway
to diminish the suffering and importance of the adult victims of violations of
fundamental human rights and grave international crimes. Rather, the book is
intended to deal with the restricted and largely neglected topic of to what extent
international courts are attending to the implications of there being child victims
with respect to the courts’ addressing and handling of, among other matters, the
following: (a) the confirmation of charges relating to child-specific international
crimes (i.e. recruitment of child soldiers, forced child marriage etc.); (b) the
assessment of the gravity of the child-related international crimes and abuses; (c)
theissueofchildwitnessparticipation;(d)thematterofchildaccesstothecourtin
termsofbringingthecaseinhisorherownrightorthrougharepresentativeorin
offering relevant information which might lead, for instance, to the Office of the
Prosecutororotherofficial body bringingthe case dependingonthe nature of the
court; and (e) the determination of the appropriate severity of sentence to be
imposed, given the presence of child victims of grave international crimes or
humanrightsabuses.
Theintroductorychapterprovidesanoverviewofthestructureandfunctionof
variousinternationalhumanrightsandinternationalcriminalcourts,namely:(a)the
Inter-American Human Rights System including the Inter-American Commission
onHumanRightsandtheInter-AmericanCourtofHumanRights;(b)theEuropean
CourtofHumanRights;(c)TheInternationalAdHocCriminalCourtforRwanda;
(d) The International Ad Hoc Criminal Court for the Territory of the Former
Yugoslavia; (e) the International Hybrid Criminal Court known as the Special
vii
viii Preface
Court of Sierra Leone; and (f) the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Selected key aspects of the enabling statutes or conventions and jurisdiction of
these various courts are reviewed in the introductory chapter including any geo-
graphicortemporallimitationsregardingtheirscopeofjurisdiction.Thefirstpart
of the book concerns the international human rights courts which have as their
mandatetheholdingtoaccountofStateswhichwereunableorunwillingtoprevent
and/orendviolationsofthebasichumanrightsguaranteedincertaininternational
human rights instruments. More specifically, the Inter-American Court of Human
RightsisconcernedwithviolationsoftheAmericanConventiononHumanRights
(included in Appendix A-1) while the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
addresses violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (included in
Appendix B-1). Both of these are permanent international human rights courts
which seek to provide an appropriate judicial remedy at the international level
where such has not been forthcoming via the national courts. Such remedies may
include,butarenotlimitedto,anorderforreparationstoredresspecuniaryand/or
non-pecuniary damages, or an order for public apologies, an order for symbolic
reparations to honour the dignity of the child victims deceased or surviving, the
court’s declaration regarding the culpability of the State which arose due to the
actionsornon-actionofitsagents,anorderforpublicawarenesscampaignsregard-
ing rights guarantees and State obligations in protecting those rights, and recom-
mendations regarding the revisions necessary to strengthen legislative protections
for human rights at the national level, as well as other remedies such as judicial
noticeoftheneedtoholdperpetratorsofgravehumanrightsviolationstoaccount.
Thesecondpartofthebookconcernstheaforementionedselectedinternational
criminal courts. The international criminal courts have jurisdiction to prosecute
thoseindividualschargedwithanyorallofthefollowingcrimesunderinternational
criminallaw:(a)genocide,(b)crimesagainsthumanity,or(c)warcrimes(thelatter
occurring in the international and/or non-international context); while the Special
CourtofSierraLeonealsohasjurisdictionwithrespecttocertaindesignatedserious
crimes under Sierra Leonean law as set out in the statute of the Special Court of
Sierra Leone (for the full text of the enabling statutes of the various international
criminal courts here discussed please see Appendix C-1, D-1, E-1 and F-1).
Appendix F-2 includes the ICC legal document outlining the ‘elements of the
crimes’ofgenocide,crimesagainsthumanity,andwarcrimes.TheICCdocument
setting out the elements of these international crimes will no doubt be extraordi-
narily helpful as legal authority for other international criminal tribunals which,
unliketheICC,havealimitedmandateandaresetuptoaddressspecificsituations.
ItshouldbeunderstoodthattheInternationalCriminalCourtinTheHague(ICC),
as per the enablingstatute (The Rome Statute), and unlike the adhoctribunals of
Rwanda and Yugoslavia and the hybrid Special Court of Sierra Leone, is a
permanent court. Further, aside from the prosecution of defendants, unlike the
otheraforementionedinternationalcriminalcourts,theICCprovidesforpecuniary
andnon-pecuniaryreparationswherethecourtdeemssuchtobeappropriateinthe
circumstancesoftheparticularcase.Notethattheforegoingisnotbyanymeansan
exhaustivelistoftheinternationalcriminalcourtspastorpresent(i.e.therehasbeen
Preface ix
recently established, for instance, the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of
Cambodia(ECCC)whichwillprosecutethoseindividualschargedwithbeingmost
responsibleintheslaughterof1.7millionCambodians,includingchildren,during
the rule of the Khmer Rouge from April 1975 to January 1979). Consideration of
how the fact of there being child victims might, or should have influenced the
court’s assessment of the case against each defendant was not generally among
the central concerns at the Nuremberg trials. The question arises then how far
theinternationalcriminalcourtshavecomeinthisregardsincethen.
Itistobeemphasizedthatthisbookisnotintendedtobeacompilationofmost
orallcasestodatehandledbytheinternationalcourtsexaminedherewherechild
victims were involved. It is impossible in any case to provide more than a brief
samplingoftheworkoftheseinternationalcourtsinthecontextofthisonevolume.
Notwithstanding the space constraint, however, the notes and questions provided
for each ofthe cases presentedhere concern key issues thatare largely generaliz-
abletoothercaseshandledbythesecourtsaswell.Thisbookthushighlightsmany
of the fundamental limitations as well as the promise of the international human
rightsandinternational criminalcourtsinachieving ameasureofjusticeforchild
victims of fundamental human rights abuses and international crimes including
genocide,crimesagainsthumanityandwarcrimes.
Relevant international children’s human rights instruments and documents,
some referenced in the cases themselves, are provided in Appendix G including:
(a) The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (entry into force
1999)(seeAppendixG-1);(b)theCapeTownPrinciplesandBestPractice(1997)
which concerns the issue of child soldiers (see Appendix G-2); (c) the U.N.
Convention on the Rights of the Child (entry into force 1990) (see Appendix
G-3);(d)theU.N.OptionalProtocoltotheConventionontheRightsoftheChild
on the involvement of children in armed conflict (entry into force 2002) (see
Appendix G-4); (e) the Paris Commitments and the Paris Principles on Children
AssociatedWithArmedForcesorArmedGroups(2007)whichconcerntheissueof
child soldiers (see Appendix G-5 and G-6); and (f) the U.N. Security Council
Resolution 1820 concerning sexual violence against women and girl children as
aninternationalcrime(adoptedJune19,2008)(seeAppendixG-7).Alsoincluded
atAppendixH-1aretheBrusselsPrinciplesAgainstImpunityandForInternational
Justice(2002).
Thetopicsoftruthandreconciliationcommissionsandamnestyareacomplex
studyinthemselves,whicharebeyondthescopeofthisbook.Sufficeittosaythat
the latter may have their place when dealing with child perpetrators who, in this
author’sview,cannotfor variousreasonsbeheldculpable[i.e.see Grover(2008)
Child soldiers as non-combatants: the inapplicability of the refugee convention
exclusion clause. International Journal of Human Rights 12(1):53–65], and with
those who played very minor roles in regard to violations of fundamental human
rights, acting largely out of duress. However, justice for victims must not, and
moreovercannot,bebarteredaway.Thiswillrequirethen,ataminimum,holding
Statesaccountableforabusesofthefundamentalhumanrightsofindividualsorof
identifiable groups (when committed inthat State’s area of territorial jurisdiction,
x Preface
or by its citizens), and prosecuting those individuals over 18 most responsible for
the grave international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes. History teaches us that peace must rest fundamentally on justice. Both
defendants and victims after all are entitled to due process and a just outcome.
Thereis,inthefinalanalysis,nosatisfactoryremedy fortheatrocitiesandhuman
rights abuses committed by individual perpetrators and allowed, for whatever
reason, to occur by the State (s) concerned. Nevertheless, there persists the need
forpublicacknowledgementofthesufferingofthevictims,andaffirmationbythe
international community of the victims’ human dignity and their right to justice.
Anything less than a just remedy for these victims is a relinquishing of our
collectivehumanity.
Acknowledgement
I acknowledge my husband Roshan and my daughter Angeline whose love and
support are my most vital source of power and who in their own ways have thus
madethisworkpossible.Thisbookiswritteninhonourofboththememoryofmy
parents DavidandGinaGazan who taught me thatone’s humandignityis amost
preciouspossessionandthatjusticeisthebirthrightofall;youngandoldandofmy
brother Albert Gazan who worked to mitigate the suffering of children as an
educator,psychologistandsocialworker.IextendmygreatthankstoDr. Brigitte
Reschke,ExecutiveEditorforlawwithSpringerforherinvaluableadviceandher
faithinthisbookprojectandtoMs.AnkeSeyfriedforhermostcompetentworkin
thefinaleditingofthemanuscript.
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