Speech of Mr. Benjamin Ferencz at Closing of Lubanga Case

By Benjamin B. Ferencz
Published: August 2011
Courtesy of BenFerencz.org

This is a historic moment in the evolution of international criminal law. For the first time a permanent international criminal court will hear the closing statement for the Prosecution as it concludes it first case against its first accused Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.

I witnessed such an evolution. As an American soldier, I survived the indescribable horrors of World War II and served as a liberator of many concentration camps. Shortly thereafter, I was appointed a Prosecutor at the Nuremberg War crimes trials which mapped new rules for the protection of humanity. I was 27 years old then. I am now in my 92nd year, having spent a lifetime striving for a more humane world governed by the rule of law.

I am honoured to represent the Prosecutor and to share some personal observations regarding the significance of this trial.

The most significant advance I have observed in international law has gone almost unnoticed; it is the slow awakening of the human conscience. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed inalienable, fundamental rights of “all members of the human family as a foundation of freedom peace and justice in the world.” Countless human rights declarations have been made over many years by many dedicated persons and organizations. But legal action to enforce the promises has been slow in coming.

In Rome in 1998, when the Statute that binds this Court was overwhelmingly approved, over a hundred sovereign states decided that child recruitment and forcing them to participate in hostilities were among “the most serious crimes of concern for the international community as a whole.” Punishing perpetrators was recognized as a legal obligation.

What makes this Court so distinctive is its primary goal to deter crimes before they take place by letting wrongdoers know in advance that they will be called to account by an impartial International Criminal Court. The law can no longer be silent but must instead be heard and enforced to protect the fundamental rights of people everywhere.

The Prosecutor’s Office spoke at length meticulously detailing grim facts establishing the responsibility of the accused for the crimes alleged. The evidence showed that waves of children, recruited under Mr. Lubanga’s command, moved through as many as 20 training camps, some holding between eight and sixteen hundred children under age 15.

Words and figures cannot adequately portray the physical and psychological harm
inflicted on vulnerable children who were brutalized and who lived in constant fear. The loss and grief to their inconsolable families is immeasurable. Their childhood stolen, deprived of education and all human rights, the suffering of the young victims and their families left permanent scars. We must try to restore the faith of children so that they may join in restoring the shattered world from which they came.

Imagine the pain of mothers crying and pleading at the door of the camps still suffering and wondering what happened to their children. Picture the agony of the father who said : “[…] he is my first son. All of my hopes were laid on him. […]the child was ruined. […] Today he can do nothing in his life. He has abandoned his education. And this is something which affects me greatly.”

All of the girls recruited could expect to be sexually violated.

All of these events which the Prosecution has carefully presented have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Once again, “the case we present is a plea of humanity to law.” It was a call for human beings to behave in a humane and lawful way.

The hope of humankind is that compassion and compromise may replace the cruel and senseless violence of armed conflicts. That is the law as prescribed by the Rome Statute that binds this Court as well as the UN Charter that binds everyone. Vengeance begets vengeance. The illegal use of armed force, which is the soil from which all human rights violation grow must be condemned as a crime against humanity. International disputes must be resolved not by armed force but by peaceful means only. Seizing and training young people to hate and kill presumed adversaries undermines the legal and moral firmament of human society.

Let the voice and the verdict of this esteemed global court now speak for the awakened conscience of the world.

COMMISSIONER ON HUMAN RIGHTS URGES EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TO ‘COME CLEAN’ ABOUT PARTICIPATION WITH CIA ‘BLACK SITES’

By: Alexandra Halsey-Storch
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France–On September 6, Thomas Hammarberg, the Commissioner on Human Rights, issued a statement urging European nations—and specifically Romania—to come forth and accept responsibility for a myriad of atrocious human rights violations committed at various black site locations as part of the United States’s War on Terror and the Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (“RDI”) program.

A Map of CIA black sites where detainees were held and interrogated (The Huffington Post)
A Map of CIA black sites where detainees were held and interrogated (Photo Curtesy of The Huffington Post)

The black sites are “highly secured detention facilities” which harbored “high value detainees” (HVDs) at the height of the War on Terror.  After being captured, the most wanted terrorist suspects were detained in a “vast network of clandestine counter-terrorism operations.” These operations were established between “partner agencies across Europe” (and throughout the globe). Each participating country lent their “closest collaboration,” explained Hammarberg.

Once secured at the black sites, detainees were thereafter subjected to “enhanced interrogation” techniques, which “routinely crossed the threshold of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and in many cases consisted of torture.”

Interrogation methods that were used included suffocation by water, prolonged stress standing (naked, with arms extended and chained above one’s head for two to three days at a time), beating and kicking, confinement in a box, which severely restricted movement, prolonged nudity, sleep deprivation, exposure to cold temperatures, and starvation.

Typically, suspected terrorists were moved around to several black site locations during a period of up to four and a half years in order to disorient and confuse the detainee and in an effort to elicit compliance.

Perhaps yet another purpose of the black sites was to mitigate United States accountability.  In the “Memorandum for John A. Rizzo,” (“Memorandum”) the United States Department of Justice Office of Legal Council iterated that Article 16 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment applies to conduct within the territory under United States jurisdiction.  The Office of Legal Council went on to interpret “jurisdiction” to include, “at most, areas over which the United States exercises at least de facto authority as the government.” The Memorandum further stated that “based on CIA assurances, we understand that the interrogations do not take place in any such areas,” therefore rendering Article 16 inapplicable to said CIA interrogation practices.

Maybe indicative of the highly illegal nature of the black sites, the United States has been determined to keep the locations secret.  While CIA officials acknowledge that black sites did in fact exist, they deny violating any laws, and refuse to express much more.  As discussed in an article entitled “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons,” published in 2005 by the Washington Post, the existence and locations of the black sites were, at first, known to only a “handful of officials in the United States and usually, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country.” Despite recent efforts to uncover the exact locations of all of the black sites, the United States continues to maintain that “details concerning locations” and the “assistance of foreign liaison services in any aspect of the [RDI] program should be kept secret.” Additionally, according to an article issued by CNN, “efforts to challenge the CIA in U.S courts have been turned aside.”

While it remains to be seen how the United States may or may not be implicated under the United Nations Convention, Polish, Romanian, and Lithuanian officials—as convention members—may be held responsible for allowing the CIA to knowingly execute the RDI program and the multitude of human rights violations in their respective countries.

According to Hammarberg, Poland’s black site was opened on December 5, 2002. Between 2002 and 2003, HVDs were held and tortured at this site. While Polish officials were not involved in handling or interrogating detainees, they authorized the occurrences and for that, may be held to some level of accountability under the United Nations Convention.

Furthermore, Hammarberg went on to say that there is significant evidence which shows that Romania’s black site opened on September 23, 2003. Once Poland’s site closed, at least one HVD was brought from Poland to Romania. Romania’s site was open for at least two years. Despite the evidence to the contrary, Romania has continued to deny any wrongdoing; in fact, following Hammarberg’s statement on September 7, Romania’s Foreign Minister expressed to CNN that, “the country has no information whatsoever showing that there existed secret CIA detention centers on its territory.”  Perhaps this statement speaks to Hammarberg’s conclusion that Romania has shown “little genuine will to uncover the whole truth.”

Hammarberg also noted that Lithuania—who also held high value detainees in a black site for at least two years—has been complicit in investigations.  Lithuania has also demonstrated “intent to reveal the truth through a parliamentary inquiry and a one year pre-trial investigation by the Prosecutor General’s Office.”

Hammarberg concluded, saying that “the full truth must now be established and guarantees given that such forms of co-operation will never be repeated.  Effective investigations are imperative and long overdue.”

For more information, please visit:

CNN.com – Council of Europe demands truth on CIA ‘black sites – 6 Sept. 2011

CNN.com – Romania denies hostin secret CIA prisons – 7 Sept. 2011

American Daily Herald – Council of Europe Criticizes U.S. and Partners Over Black Sites and Torture – 8 Sept. 2011

Council of Europe – “Special Review” of Black Sites undertaken by the CIA Inspector General – 5 September 2011

The Irish Times – U.S. Department of Justice Memorandum for John A. Rizzo – 30 May 2005

The Washington Post – CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons – 2 Nov. 2005

Vietnam allowing forced labor and denial of treatment in drug rehabilitation centers

 By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – Those detained in Vietnam for drug use are being held without due process, forced to labor without compensation and enduring physical violence according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

Vietnamese drug users are forced to labor while being detained in drug rehabilitation centers (Photo Courtesy of Human Rights Watch).
Vietnamese drug users are forced to labor while being detained in drug rehabilitation centers (Photo Courtesy of Human Rights Watch).

According to the report, “The Rehab Archipelago: Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention Centers in Southern Vietnam,”  drug detention centers that are mandated to treat and rehabilitate drug users are being used as labor camps where those arrested for drug use are forced to work six days a week to sew garments, manufacture products and process cashews.

Those who are compensated receive only a few dollars a month, much of which is taken by the facility to pay for food and shelter, and are forced to work in unhealthy conditions.

The individuals interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that they were not given a trial or informed of any process of appeal. Individuals who voluntarily entered the facility were not allowed to leave and had their detention arbitrarily extended by management officials at the center.

Punishment at the facility is severe and often involves torture. Those who refuse to work are beaten with batons, electrically shocked, kept in isolation, forced to work longer hours and deprived of food and water.

There have been several large escapes since the Vietnamese government issued an order increasing the mandatory period of treatment from one year to two years and the maximum period of treatment increased from one year to four years.

A former detainee described the punishment he was forced to endure after trying to escape: “First they beat my legs so that I couldn’t run off again… [Then] they shocked me with an electric baton [and] kept me in the punishment room for a month.”

Cashews are the most common product derived from forced labor in drug rehabilitation camps which contributes to Vietnam’s status as the largest cashew producer in the world.  Vietnam is the largest supplier of Cashew’s to the United States and is a large supplier of the nut to China and the European Union.

Human Rights Watch is calling the U.S. and Australian governments, the United Nations, the World Bank and other internationally donors to validate the facilities they are funding to avoid “indirectly [facilitating] human rights abuses.”

Last year the United States donated $7.7 million to Vietnam for methadone treatment and community based drug intervention. None of the individuals interviewed by Human Rights Watch; however, had received methadone or any other medical tool for fighting addiction.

As a result of the report Columbia Sportswear, located in Oregon, ended its relationship with a Vietnamese factory after it was discovered that the factory had subcontracted work with a drug detention center.

The drug use centers are a component of a Vietnamese system aimed at eliminating “social evils” including prostitution and drug use. As of early 2011, there were 123 centers across Vietnam which housed approximately 40,000 individuals.

Although Vietnamese officials claim that labor helps drug addicts by keeping them away from temptations, the official relapse rate of those who leave the camps is between 70 percent and 80 percent although most believe that the actually rate is closer to 95 percent.

For more information, please see:

Voice of America – Vietnam’s Drug Rehab Centers Under Fire – 9 September 2011

Associated Press – Rights Group: Forced Labor in Vietnam Drug Centers – 7 September 2011

Human Rights Watch –Vietnam: Torture, Forced Labor in Drug Detention – 7 September 2011

Radio Free Asia –Drug Detention Akin to ‘Labor Camps’ – 6 September 2011

Time – From Vietnam’s Forced-Labor Camps: ‘Blood Cashews’ – 6 September 2011

CHINA ON DEFENSIVE OVER PROPOSED ILLEGAL GADHAFI ARMS SHIPMENT

by Hibberd Kline
Impunity Watch, Asia

BEIJING, China — On September 2, Canadian newspaper, the Globe and Mail, published a story regarding official documents found in Tripoli detailing mid-July meetings at which representatives of three major Chinese state-controlled weapons manufacturing firms offered to sell $200 million worth of weapons to senior Gadhafi security officials.

Artillery shells abandoned by Gadhaffis forces.
Artillery shells abandoned by Gadhafi's forces. (Photograph courtesy of CBC News).

According to the Globe and Mail, the documents contain evidence that representatives of the companies proposed to sell the Gadhafi regime “the entire contents of their stockpiles” including: truck-mounted rocket launchers, fuel-air explosive missiles, anti-tank missiles, and QW-18 surface-to-air missiles among other weaponry.

The Globe and Mail reported that the companies promised to manufacture additional supplies if necessary.

The newspaper further alleged that the Chinese representatives had emphasized the need for confidentiality during their meetings with the Libyans and had suggested the use of Algeria and South Africa, who had “previously worked with China,” to deliver the armaments without direct Chinese involvement in their transportation.

The documents found by the Globe and Mail listed the three state-controlled Chinese firms as: China North Industries Corporation (Norinco), the China National Precision Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CPMIC), and China XinXing Import & Export Corporation.

Norinco has been the target of US sanctions in the past for allegedly supplying missile parts to Iran in violation of China’s arms control rules.

The Globe and Mail’s publication put Beijing immediately on the defensive.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry quickly denied that any contracts had been signed, and that any weapons had been sold or supplied to Libya by Chinese firms.

Later in the week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jian Yu acknowledged that a meeting did take place between Gadhafi’s officials and representatives of the Chinese firms and that invoices had been issued that listed weapons prices for inventory from small arms to rocket launchers.

However, Jiang firmly stressed that the meeting had occurred without the knowledge of the Chinese government. She pledged that China will continue to “strictly implement the UN resolution” and that it will also strengthen controls over arms exports.

Jiang went on to say that “competent authorities for military trade will handle the matter in a serious manner,” which some analysts have interpreted to mean that an investigation on the part of Chinese authorities will likely follow.

When asked about the possibility of whether the Chinese companies or their personnel might be punished for meeting with Gadhafi’s officials, Jiang responded that she was sure that the situation would be dealt with “in a serious and conscientious way.”

In February, as the Libyan uprising gathered steam China approved UN Resolution 1970, which banned all military assistance to Tripoli. China was also quick to open contacts with Libyan rebel leaders, whom it invited to Beijing for a consultation.

Furthermore, China has repeatedly stressed that it has provided humanitarian assistance to the Libyan people and has attempted to promote dialogue between the rebels and the Gadhafi regime for the purpose of resolving the situation without further bloodshed.

However, China has thus far refused to join the growing list of nations that recognize the victorious rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya’s legitimate government and has shown great reluctance to hand over frozen Libyan assets to the fledgling government.

Many analysts have suggested that China’s faltering relationship with Libya’s rebels may threaten the potential for Chinese firms to be awarded lucrative Libyan oil and reconstruction contracts.

Before the uprising began, Libyan oil shipments accounted for a strategically significant three percent of China’s supply. There has been much speculation that China had been courting both the rebels and Gadhafi simultaneously in order to hedge its bets and thereby guarantee future security of its oil supply.

NTC leaders do not yet appear to agree on a proper response to the meetings between the Chinese firms and Gadhafi’s officials.

Omar Hariri, chief of the NTC’s military committee said that he has reviewed the documents. He expressed outrage that the Chinese were negotiating the sale of arms to Gadhafi while rebel troops were suffering heavy casualties.

Mr. Hariri and several other rebel leaders suspect China and other nations of secretly delivering weapons, intelligence and other supplies to government forces during the fighting. Mr. Hariri said that the documents explained the presence of brand-new weaponry that he and his forces had faced on the battlefield.

Referring to the weaponry promised in the invoices, Hariri said that he was “almost certain that these guns arrived and were used against” his people.

However, other rebel leaders have responded with a more cautious and conciliatory tone. NTC spokesman, Jalal al-Gallal, said that he believed China’s assurances that it was unaware of any weapons sales.

Gallal went on to stress the importance of remembering that China is a superpower. “We all rely on products that come from China. We would have hoped they would have been on our side… But if it is in the interests of the Libyan people to deal with China, then we will deal with China… It is very expensive and time consuming to settle old scores.”

Gallal conceded that; “of course there will be some reaction.” He noted that Libya will “favor certain countries who stood by us.”

For more information, please see:

CBC News – Libya-China arms memos prompt Beijing pledge –  06 September 2011

Shanghai Daily- China sold no weapons to Gadhafi – 06 September 2011

BBC News – China confirms weapons firms met Gaddafi envoys in July – 05 September 2011

Guardian – Chinese arms companies ‘offered to sell weapons to Gaddafi regime – 05 September 2011

Reuters – China says didn’t know of arms sales talks with Gaddafi forces – 05 September 2011

Reuters – Libyans say China, Europe sent arms to Gaddafi – 05 September 2011

Globe and Mail – China offered Gadhafi huge stockpiles of arms: Libyan memos –  02 September 2011

Syrian Protesters Call for Help from International Community as Assad Steps Up Brutality

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – Protests against the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad reached a new level in Syria on Friday.  For the first time, activists requested assistance from the international community in dealing with Assad’s crackdowns on public dissidence.  More than 2,200 people are estimated to have died since protests started in mid-March.

Protesters Friday held signs calling for aid from the international community, such as the one at left. (Image courtesy of AFP)
Protesters Friday held signs calling for aid from the international community, such as the one at left. (Image courtesy of AFP)

At the same time, a story of new atrocities by the security forces surfaced.  Thursday, Human Rights Watch reported that security forces stormed al-Barr hospital in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city on Wednesday, and removed 18 wounded people from the facility.  Five of those taken were in the operating room at the time, and two were unconscious.  A doctor at the hospital told Human Rights Watch that security forces were looking for a man named Bilal, but by the time they arrived, a person of that name who had checked in had succumbed to his injuries.  The forces then went through the hospital and took anyone who had a bullet wound.

“When we tried to help the wounded who needed urgent medical care, the security forces pushed us back, saying these were criminals and rapists. They were beating the wounded as they moved them out of the hospital,” the doctor added.  “A woman, who must have been a mother or a sister of one of the wounded, begged them [the security forces] to give her relative his medication but they pushed her. The security forces then put the wounded in ambulances and drove them away. We could see them beating them inside the ambulance as they departed. I don’t know where they took them.”

This new action runs counter to a statement made by International Committee of the Red Cross president Jakob Kellenberger at the end of his visit to Syria on Monday.  Kellenberger said he insisted that members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent be able to do their work without interference while he met with Assad.  Instead, it continues a pattern of security forces interfering with medical personnel’s ability to provide needed treatment to the wounded.

Friday’s rally, dubbed “Friday for International Protection,” is the latest statement from the regime’s opposition.  Despite near-certain response from the country’s security forces, these protests, with attendance numbering in the thousands, have taken place every Friday after the week’s primary Muslim prayer service.  This one was no different, with troops firing into the crowd once again.  Several people were killed, including a 15-year-old boy, but the death toll is unclear at this time.

“We want international protection!” was heard in several cities across the country.  Others called for Assad’s execution.  Still others held signs that read “Bashar: Game Over!”

A Facebook page titled “Syrian Revolution 2011” has asked the United Nations to send a permanent observer mission.  Such a mission, if deployed, would be at best, “a first step” in the process of calming and stabilizing a rapidly decaying situation, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission, an umbrella bloc of activists that called for monitoring as an attempt to deter continued attacks.  But such an effort could also backfire, according bloc spokesman Ahmad al-Khatib during an interview with Reuters.

“Calling for outside intervention is a sensitive issue that could be used by the regime to label its opponents as traitors,” said Khatib.

Syria’s own government does not take the protests seriously.  Friday, SANA, the country’s official news agency, issued a press release reporting that Samih Khreis, Secretary-General of the Arab Bar Association, considered the activists’ cries for help from the international community illegitimate. The report also said that the opposition should not make these requests because “’Genuine reform cannot be built on the ruins of the homeland,” but through unity.  This same release also alleged that the same calls were not representative of the people.  Instead, it said, they were “manufactured by a group from the Canadian-Zionist Organization.”

Syria’s allies are rapidly losing patience with Assad’s continued crackdowns.  Russia, who has long opposed sanctions, still feels that Syria is using excessive force in dealing with the protesters, even if they might be “terrorists.”  Turkey, once a strong supporter of the Assad regime, is now one of its most vocal critics.  Even Iran, its closest friend in the international community, has called for the killing to stop.  Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recommended that Assad start talking to the opposition instead of shooting at it.  Friday, he suggested that the region meet in Tehran, his country’s capital.

“A military solution is never the right solution,” Ahmadinejad told a Portuguese broadcaster. “We believe that freedom and justice and respect for others are the rights of all nations. All governments have to recognize these rights.  Problems have to be dealt with through dialogue.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Syrians appeal for international protection — 09 September 2011

BBC — Syria unrest: Protesters call for international help — 09 September 2011

CNN — Report: Syrian forces snatched operating room patients — 09 September 2011

New York Times — Group Says Syrian Forces Seized Hospital Patients — 09 September 2011

SANA — Arab Personalities, Political Analysts: Calls for International Protection of the Syrian People Come from Canadian Zionist Organizations — 09 September 2011

Human Rights Watch — Syria: Security Forces Remove Wounded From Hospital — 08 September 2011