Special Features

Experts Present Principles for International Criminal Judges

By: Sarah Sandoval 

Impunity News Staff Writer 

The Hague, Netherlands – For the past eight months, the Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature, and the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights have been working on a project designed to unify a code of ethics for the international criminal justice system. This project, “Ethica – The path to a common code of ethics for international criminal judges,” is a result of the 2017 Paris Declaration on the Effectiveness of International Criminal Justice. 

 
Cover page of the Ethica pamphlet, which was created as part of the Ethica project | Photo Courtesy of the Nuremberg Academy
 

According to the Siracusa International Institute, the project “aims at identifying the ethical rules applicable to international criminal judges, based on concrete cases that [arose]before international criminal jurisdictions.” The principles that the project outlines have been established by a group of highly regarded international experts, who held two seminars for this purpose; one in Nuremberg on February 6, 2023, and the other in Paris on May 15, 2023. 

Though the official launch of the project is scheduled for later this month, the principles are available for viewing now on the International Criminal Court, International Nuremberg Principles Academy, and France Diplomacy websites. The pdf pamphlet outlines 25 principles in three different categories. The category of “Independence and Impartiality” includes tenets such as that “[International Criminal Judges] should exercise caution when interacting with State representatives and in particular when deciding whether to attend events organized, sponsored or cosponsored by States that may have an interest in a pending case or investigation or one likely to become so,” while one of the principles listed in the “Dignity, Integrity, and Probity” category advises International Criminal Judges to be aware of how they and their families present themselves on social media. The final category, “Career and Professional Conscience” includes a principle that states “ICJs should be physically and mentally fit to perform their functions throughout their mandate and should report any doubt about their ability to perform their judicial functions to the presidency of the tribunal.” 

The pamphlet also includes background information about how these principles should be interpreted. Specifically, it states that the ethical principles are a living document, designed to be interpreted within the broader context and “shaped by the evolution of society, technology and the needs of international criminal justice.” The principles will be presented within the next couple of months, first in Siracusa, Italy on October 13th, followed by New York, United States on October 24th, before the final presentation on November 15 in The Hague, Netherlands. 

For further information, please see: 

Ethica – Ethical Principles for International Criminal Judges – September 22, 2023

France Diplomacy – France supports the Ethica project on ethical issues in international criminal justice – September 2023

ICC – ICC President contributes to Ethical Principles for International Criminal Judges – September 26, 2023

INPA – New publication: Ethical Principles for International Criminal Judges – 

SII – “Ethica, towards a common code of ethics for international criminal judges” – May 2, 2023

 

VA Denies Healthcare to Some Overseas Veterans

By: Christina Ralph

Journal of Global Rights and Organizations Senior Articles Editor & Veterans Legal Clinic Student Attorney

In 2022, there were 171,736 United States military service members permanently stationed overseas. While these service members are representing the U.S. across the globe, they are making connections to people and places, that will last a lifetime. It is unsurprising then that most will travel abroad at some point after they finish their service, and some will make another country their temporary or permanent home. What many of the people serving our country do not know is that while they earn healthcare benefits through their service, once they are veterans should they experience a non-service related emergency while outside of the U.S., the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will not cover the cost of their care. 

VA denies basic healthcare and even emergency care to Veterans who travel or live abroad
if their medical issue is deemed not service-connected | Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

Whether a veteran lives overseas or is just traveling outside of the US, the VA denies them reimbursement for emergency services determined not connected to their service. This includes veterans who are 100% disabled.  Thus, veterans are not provided the emergency care to which they are entitled, and which would be completely covered by the VA if their medical emergency had occurred in the US. The reimbursement process causes Veterans to wait “long periods of time and endure great financial hardships” waiting to find out whether they will be reimbursed by the VA for the cost of their emergency care. Denial of reimbursement often forces veterans to choose between their physical health and their financial well-being. 

American service members are sent all over the world as part of their service to our country. These overseas assignments are the catalyst for veterans who travel abroad and especially for those who become expatriates.  There are many reasons veterans choose to live abroad. Most common is that many, such as Ken in Germany, meet their spouses while on assignment in another country. Ken and his wife raised their daughter in Germany where he worked 21 years for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. Despite living in Germany, Ken remains a “strongly patriotic” American citizen.  He is active in the local VFW and is the Commanding Officer of the 1982 American Legion.  While he used to travel back to the U.S. often, traveling to access VA healthcare is not a viable option for him. Now widowed, Ken resides with his daughter and his grandchildren in Germany. Ken continues to help other veterans navigate the VA claims process, even while he struggles to get the VA services he needs. 

Another reason veterans live outside the US is that they can live a better quality of life, funded by their VA retirement or disability payments, in countries where the cost of living is significantly less than it is in the U.S. Donny in the Dominican Republic, retired from the U.S. Air Force. Rather than seek work to supplement his military pension, he and his wife chose to move near her family in the Dominican Republic where the cost of living has allowed them to fully retire and have the “lifestyle they want right away”. Donny and his wife currently travel to the U.S. for their healthcare. Donny has not had an emergency in the Dominican Republic, but if he does, he plans to seek care at a private hospital, then undertake the long process of seeking reimbursement from the VA.  

As you might imagine, given that they chose to serve in the US military, these veterans are staunchly patriotic. They remain US citizens, pay US taxes, vote in US elections, and stay abreast of issues affecting the US. As Ken, in Thailand says, “An American is an American, no matter in what country he/she resides”. Regardless of the reasons for deciding to live abroad, these veterans have earned their VA healthcare benefits, but are being denied them, simply because they do not live in the U.S.

Neither the Department of Defense nor the VA tracks the number or location of veterans who live abroad. Some estimate approximately 77,058 veterans live abroad. The estimate of disabled veterans living abroad is 28,000.   These veterans are denied non-service related emergency and basic healthcare merely because they live abroad, leaving many feeling forgotten and abandoned by the very agencies that are tasked with honoring their service by providing the benefits they have earned. This was especially true during the Covid pandemic when the VA refused to provide vaccinations, tests, or care for Veterans who were not in the US. Jesse in Mexico, suffers from service-connected sleep apnea, but could not get a Covid vaccine. In his opinion, veterans living abroad were “completely left behind”. Despite begging the VA for help, Jesse and others like him were denied assistance. According to Jesse, it is because expatriate veterans “are obviously not very high on the secretary’s list of priorities.”  It is hard to argue with his logic given that reimbursing veterans for the cost of emergency care is at the discretion of the VA secretary, but the VA still chooses to outright deny veterans coverage for non-military related emergency care outside the US. 

Representative Dingell of Michigan declared, “no veteran should ever have to worry about whether they can afford costly medical expenses, especially when it comes to an emergency,” when, in 2021, legislation was passed requiring the VA to reimburse veterans for emergency health care claims. However, the VA has interpreted the legislation to exclude emergencies experience by veterans outside the U.S., despite the provision having no such limiting language. So, veterans traveling or living abroad are still being denied emergency services when their medical issue is deemed not service-related, requiring veterans to pay for these emergency services out of pocket.  The government has been discussing the issue of healthcare benefits for veterans who travel or live abroad since at least 1962, but the problem persists.  

Even though the well-being, and even the lives, of tens of thousands of veterans, are affected by the lack of basic healthcare and medical emergency coverage they have earned through their service the VA claims it cannot act, and neither Congress, nor the courts, seem willing to act on what they claim is a complicated issue. But veterans around the world do not see it that way. As Ken in Thailand says it is simply “shameful at best; cruel and deceitful at worst” that the VA makes a veteran’s location a condition of receiving healthcare benefits. 

For more information, please see:

Blumenthal & Dingell Introduce Legislation Requiring VA to Reimburse Veterans for Emergency Health Care Claims – 10 Aug. 2021

Court Rules that VA Must Reimburse Veterans for Emergency Care at non-VA Facilities – 3 Nov. 2022

Disabled American Vets Living Overseas Are Getting Screwed Out of Healthcare – 12 May 2018

Expat Retiree Profile: Retiring in the Dominican Republic – 26 Apr. 2023

Medical Care for Veterans Outside the U.S. – 7 Aug. 2022

The Civilian Lives of US Veterans: Issues and Identities – 2016

USA Facts – What Is the State of the Military and How Are US Veterans Faring?

Van Dermark v. McDonough, 57 F.4th 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2023)Vets Living Abroad Left to Navigate Pandemic Problems Without VA Help – 9 Dec. 2020

High Court’s Decision in Northern Ireland Puts Pressure on the Legislature to Liberalize Abortion Laws

By: Madison Kenyon 

Impunity Watch Staff Writer 

BELFAST, Ireland — On Thursday, October 3, the high court in Belfast, Ireland held that Northern Ireland’s abortion law violates human rights. Specifically, Justice Keegan, the presiding judge, found that the law is incompatible with the United Kingdom’s human rights commitments. Justice Keegan will hear more submissions before deciding what definitive action to take.

Sarah Ewart and her mother after the October ruling. Photo Courtesy of BBC.

The current abortion law in place in Northern Ireland only permits an abortion in cases where it is necessary to save the life of the mother or prevent permanent mental or physical damage of the mother. There is no exception for rape, incest, or fatal fetal abnormalities. Further, abortion is a criminal offense under the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Due to this law, women who seek an abortion must travel outside of Northern Ireland in order to get one. Although England, Scotland, and Wales all legalized abortions in 1967, Northern Ireland did not follow suit.

In June 2018, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission brought a case in the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court challenging Northern Ireland’s abortion law. The court dismissed the case though because it found that the Commission lacked standing and rather the case needed to be brought by a woman who had been denied an abortion. The court did state however, that Northern Ireland’s abortion law was incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Following this dismissal, in January 2019, Sarah Ewart brought the present case. Ms. Ewart had previously been denied an abortion in 2013 even though her doctor told her that the child would either die during birth or shortly after leaving the womb. Along with being denied an abortion, she did not receive any advice as to where she could get an abortion or what she should do. Thus, Ms. Ewart had to travel to London in order to obtain an abortion. Justice Keegan found Ms. Ewart’s testimony to be very persuasive and she held that she did not think another woman should have to go through the same trauma that Ms. Ewart went through.

Regarding Thursday’s decision, Ms. Ewart stated, “Today’s ruling is a turning point for women in their campaign against the outdated laws prohibiting against abortion in Northern Ireland.” As Ms. Ewart suggests, this is definitely a step towards liberalizing Northern Ireland’s abortion law however, it is still very dependent on how the legislature reacts to this decision. Yet, this is not the only pressure the legislature has received to change Northern Ireland’s abortion law. Rather, in July 2019, the British Parliament voted on a plan that would decriminalize abortion in Northern Ireland if the local government, which stopped functioning in January 2017, did not re-establish itself by October 21. Thus, with an upcoming deadline, the legislature must act fast and in compliance with Thursday’s holding, or the court should expect a lot more cases like Ms. Ewart’s.

For further information, please see: 

The Hill – High Court Rules Northern Ireland’s Abortion Ban Violates Human Rights – 3 Oct. 2019

AlJazeera – Northern Ireland Abortion Law Breaches Human Rights, Court Says – 3 Oct. 2019

CNN – Northern Ireland Abortion Law Breaches Human Rights, High Court Rules – 3 Oct. 2019

House of Commons: Women and Equalities Committee – Abortion Law in Northern Ireland – 3 Apr. 2019

 

What is Happening Along the Border of Turkey and Syria?

By: Madison Kenyon 

Impunity Watch Staff Writer 

DAMASCUS, Syria — On Sunday, October 20, Syrian Kurdish forces began their withdrawal from Ras al-Ayn, a town along the Syrian border. This withdrawal is part of a cease-fire negotiated by the United States’ Vice President, Mike Pence, and Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo with Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This cease-fire began Thursday, October 17, and will end on Tuesday, October 22. By Tuesday evening, the Kurdish forces must not only have all soldiers removed from Ras al-Ayn, but also, they must withdraw from a zone about 75 miles wide and 20 miles deep between Ras al-Ayn and the town of Tel Abyad.

The aftermath of a shelling by Turkish forces on a target in Das al-Ayn. Photo courtesy of NPR.

Despite the Kurdish forces’ withdrawal from this zone, Turkey states that this is not enough. Rather, Erdogan wants the Kurdish forces to withdraw more than 260 miles from the Syrian border.  He has vowed that if the forces fail to do so, he will “continue to crush the terrorists’ heads.” Erdogan’s persistency to remove the Kurds from the Syrian border comes from his belief that the presence of any Kurds along the Turkey border is an “existential threat” to Turkey.

This tension between Turkey and the Kurds stems from years of conflict. The Kurds, a largely Muslim ethnic group, are one of the largest groups of people without a state of their own (despite being promised one after World War I). Due to this, for years, a Kurdish militant group has launched attacks throughout Turkey in an attempt to achieve autonomy. Therefore, Turkey sees the Kurdish forces located in northern Syria as linked to this militant group. Thus, Turkey argues that it wants to create a “safe zone” between the Turkey-Syrian border. It also argues that it wants to resettle at least a million refugees living in Turkey who were displaced by the Syrian war into this zone.

Previously, the U.S. has backed the Kurds in their defense against Turkey. However, recently, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing U.S. troops from northern Syria. The Kurds have now had to turn to Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader, and Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President, for help in this conflict.

Since President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria, over 200,000 people have been displaced. Many of these people blame President Trump for this displacement. One 70-year-old Kurdish man, forced to flee from his home in Ras al-Ayn, stated, “This was a clear betrayal by the Americans. The Turks never would have done what they did had the Americans stayed.”

This criticism is what led the U.S. to negotiate this cease-fire. However, despite the Kurds’ current withdrawal, both sides claim that the other side still repeatedly violates the cease-fire. For example, Turkey’s Defense Ministry stated that the Kurds killed one of its soldiers today during an attack.

It is hard to believe that this cease-fire will make any real difference in this conflict. Rather, the world is awaiting to see what happens at the Turkey-Syrian border Tuesday evening once the cease-fire ends.

For further information, please see: 

Time – Kurds Begin to Evacuate Besieged Syrian Border Town – 20 Oct. 2019

Washington Post – The Latest: Kurdish Fighters Pull Out of Syrian Border Town – 20 Oct. 2019

Bloomberg – Syrian and Kurdi News: Trump Approach to Turkey Syria Incursion – 20 Oct. 2019

Los Angeles Times – ‘How Long Can We Live Like This?’: Kurds in Growing Refugee Camp Plead for Help, End to Losses, Suffering – 20 Oct. 2019

CBS News – Turkey’s Involvement in Syria’s Civil War: The Complicated History of How We Got Here – 15 Oct. 2019