U.S. Congressman Chris Smith: U.S. House Passes Smith Bill Urging New Syrian War Crimes Tribunal

Washington, Mar 14 | Jeff Sagnip ((202) 225-3765)

The House of Representatives voted today urging the U.N. Security Council to immediately establish a Syrian war crimes tribunal.

   H Con Res 121—sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04)—calls upon the Administration to pursue this policy goal including using America’s voice and vote at the UN.

   During debate in the House Smith said, “Past ad hoc/regional war crimes tribunals—including courts for Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia—have made a significant difference holding some of the worst mass murderers to account with successful prosecutions followed by long jail sentences.”

   The resolution passed 392-3.

   “An ad hoc or regional court has significant advantages over the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a venue for justice,” Smith said. “The ICC has operated since 2002 but boasts only two convictions. By way of contrast, the Yugoslavia court convicted 80 people; Rwanda, 61; and Sierra Leone, 9.  Moreover, a singularly focused Syrian tribunal that provides Syrians with a degree of ownership could significantly enhance its effectiveness.”

   “I chaired a congressional hearing in 2013 on establishing a Syrian War Crimes tribunal, which included David Crane, the former chief prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone and founder and chairman of the Syria Accountability Project,” Smith said. “As Mr. Crane testified, the Syria Accountability Project has collected data ‘and built a framework by which President Assad and his henchmen along with members of the opposition can be prosecuted openly and fairly.’  He and his team have developed a ‘crime base matrix which catalogs most of the incidents chronologically and highlights the violations of the Rome Statute, the Geneva Conventions as well as domestic Syrian criminal law.’”

   Smith said that Crane’s leadership held even heads of state to account.

   “Who can forget the picture of the infamous former President of Liberia—Charles Taylor—with his head bowed incredulous that the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2012 meted out a 50-year jail term for his crimes against humanity and war crimes,” Smith said.

    Tomorrow, March 15, marks the fifth anniversary of the Syrian War, which has taken the lives of many innocents.

     Smith said, “Rigorous investigations by a new Syria court followed by prosecutions, convictions and serious jail time for perpetrators of crimes on all sides will not only hold those responsible for war crimes accountable, but will send a clear message that such barbaric behavior has dire personal consequences. The victims—and their loved ones—deserve no less.”

   “Can a U.N. Security Council resolution establishing a Syrian war crimes tribunal prevail?” Smith asked during the debate, “Yes. With a serious and sustained diplomatic push by the United States and other interested parties, past success in creating war crimes tribunals can indeed be prologue. Notwithstanding Russia’s solidarity with Serbia during the Balkan war, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was unanimously approved. Ditto for the special court in Sierra Leone in 2002. The Rwanda tribunal was created in 1994, with China choosing to abstain rather than veto.” 

   Smith concluded, “Accountability that is aggressive, predictable, transparent and applicable to perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity on all sides of the divide must be pursued now.”

   The House also adopted a resolution today by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (NE-01) calling on the Obama Administration to designate the horrific crimes against Christians and other minority beliefs in Syria and Iraq as “genocide.” 

   During debate on that resolution Smith stated, “We cannot let the cries of the victims go unheeded, as we once did when we were confronted with evidence of genocide in Rwanda.”

   On Dec. 9, 2015, Smith chaired a hearing entitled “Fulfilling the Humanitarian Imperative: Assisting Victims of ISIS Violence,” where witnesses cited widespread violence targeting religious minorities such as Christians and Yezidis (a non-Islamic religious minority) in territory controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq. 

   “In very powerful testimony Mr. Ismail, himself a Yezidi leader who stated that his people were ‘on the verge of annihilation,’ called upon the Administration not to neglect others who are also under the sword,” Smith said. “He reminded us that the Yezidis were not alone in facing this barbaric onslaught, but that the ‘Yezidis and Chaldo-Assyrian Christians face this genocide together.’”  

   Smith said the Syria resolution has broad bi-partisan support, and received input from the State Department as well as a panel of experts at a 2013 hearing he chaired entitled “Establishing a Syrian War Crimes Tribunal.” Click here for information from the hearing, or click here to view a transcript of the hearing. Smith’s resolution was approved at a March 2 hearing by the full Foreign Affairs Committee.

U.S. Missionary Jailed For Sexually Abusing Kenyan Orphans

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

OKLAHOMA CITY, United States of America — A former missionary from Oklahoma was sentenced in U.S. federal court on Monday to 40 years in prison for sexually molesting children at a Kenyan orphanage. US District Judge David L. Russell handed down the sentence to Matthew Lane Durham, who had faced up to 30 years on each of four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

Durham, Pictured with some of the Orphans in Kenya. (Photo Courtesy of KGOU)

Durham read a statement before sentencing on Monday asking the court for mercy, but did not express remorse for his offences.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged Durham targeted orphans while volunteering at the Upendo Children’s Home in Nairobi between April and June 2014. Durham had served as a volunteer since 2012 at the orphanage, which specializes in caring for neglected children.

In his statement before the courtroom, Judge Russell said, “These were heinous crimes committed on the most vulnerable victims. He was their worst nightmare come true.”

A live-in caretaker at the orphanage said that children said Durham either touched them sexually or told them to touch themselves while he watched.

When confronted by the founder of Upendo and several church members, Durham was alleged to have confessed to several instances of rape and sexual abuse of children. Evidence produced by prosecutors included handwritten, signed confessions that Durham gave orphanage officials after he was accused of inappropriate behavior.

Durham claimed he did not molest the children, but during a preliminary hearing, prosecutors said Durham told Upendo Children’s Home personnel that he thought he had been possessed by an “evil spirit” because he did not remember committing the crimes.

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Durham’s actions have had a chilling and damaging effect on the lives of dozens of foreign volunteers in Kenya and elsewhere. Prosecutors stated that these volunteers “must now live under the cloud of suspicion, distrust and apprehension when they volunteer their time, talent and resources for the betterment of children in East Africa and beyond.”

US Prosecutor Mark Yancey stated: “The innocence of the child victims cannot be restored and their lives will never be the same,” adding, “It is our hope and prayer that his conviction and lengthy sentence will someday bring them some comfort and peace.”

Eunice Menja, founder of the orphanage, fought back tears as she read a statement in court. Ms. Menja said, “Matthew Durham defiled the children. Matthew has no remorse. After he got caught, he still denied.” Menja told reporters after the hearing that she hopes Durham’s 40-year sentence is long enough to prevent him from being a threat to anyone else.

“We’re hoping that when he comes out he will be a changed man,” she said.

For more information, please see:

AllAfrica – Kenya: U.S. Man Jailed for 40 Years for Raping Children At Kenyan Orphanage – 8 March 2016

BBC News – Ex-US missionary jailed for abusing Kenyan orphans – 8 March 2016

Sky News – Ex-Missionary Jailed For Kenya Orphanage Abuse – 8 March 2016

The News Nigeria – US missionary jailed 40 years for serial raping of Kenyan kids – 8 March 2016

The Star (Kenya) – Former US missionary jailed for 40 years for sexually harassing kids in Kenya – 8 March 2016

The Times of India – US man jailed for 40 years for abusing Kenyan orphans – 8 March 2016

ABC News – Oklahoma Man Gets 40 Years in Prison in Kenya Orphans’ Abuse – 7 March 2016

Global Centre for the Responisibility to Protect: Ending Five Years of Atrocities in Syria

Tomorrow, 15 March 2016, marks five years of devastating and deadly conflict in Syria. Since 2011, more than 260,000 people have been killed, over 11 million displaced from their homes and 13.5 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Because of the civil war the multi-ethnic, multi-religious fabric of Syrian society has been torn apart and ordinary Syrians are trapped in the largest humanitarian crisis of our time.

 

After five years of misery there is now some dim hope, with a cessation of hostilities that has largely held since 27 February and intra-Syrian talks restarting today in Geneva. Two task forces created by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) are overseeing the cessation as well as the delivery of desperately-needed humanitarian aid to thousands of Syrians in besieged areas. The UN Security Council has endorsed these efforts.

 

But a cessation is not a permanent ceasefire, and the Syrian civil war is far from resolved. Monumental diplomatic efforts will be needed to sustain progress. Syrians cannot afford for the cessation to collapse or for the international community to retreat into passivity in the face of recurring atrocities.

 

Throughout the course of Syria’s civil war, every major principle of international law has been violated with impunity. The Syrian government has deployed illegal chemical weapons and cluster munitions, deliberately bombed hospitals and dropped barrel bombs on civilians. All parties to the conflict, including the government, have tortured detainees, perpetrated sexual violence, deliberately blocked humanitarian aid, and used food as a weapon to starve besieged communities. Crimes against humanity and war crimes continue to be perpetrated.

 

For five years the Syrian government has waged war against its own people, and has utterly failed to uphold its Responsibility to Protect. The government has contravened every resolution passed by the UN Security Council with regard to its attacks on armed rebels and unarmed civilian populations presumed to be supporting them.

 

In the midst of the civil war, the so-called Islamic State has gained territory and influence and has itself carried out crimes against humanity, including mass executions and sexual enslavement. The group poses an existential threat to all religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and must be held accountable for mass atrocity crimes committed in areas under its command and control. All other armed opposition groups who have perpetrated atrocities must also be held to account.

 

The world is fully aware of atrocities in Syria. But as Syrian refugees flee the country in unprecedented numbers, they now find it increasingly difficult to find sanctuary. Various governments have ignored their obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention, and many desperate Syrians find international borders closed to them.

 

Syrians did not need to suffer this fate. For nearly five years the international community, and especially the UN Security Council, has watched the Syrian conflict deepen and deteriorate. The Security Council has been consumed with internal political divisions that have crippled its ability to respond to the Syrian crisis, and it has failed to uphold its responsibilities to the Syrian people. On this solemn anniversary we therefore call upon the Security Council to:

 

  1. Demand full and immediate compliance with Resolution 2268, endorsing the cessation of hostilities, the ISSG initiative and a Syrian-led political process, in accordance with the Geneva Communiqué of 30 June 2012;
  2.  
  3. Authorize targeted sanctions against all government and non-state actors who are responsible for mass atrocity crimes;
  4.  
  5. Impose an arms embargo on Syria; and
  6.  
  7. Refer the Syrian situation to the International Criminal Court for investigation.
  8.  

Finally, we call upon all 193 members of the UN to sign the ACT Code of Conduct regarding the Security Council and mass atrocities. No Security Council member should ever vote against a credible resolution aimed at preventing or halting mass atrocity crimes. And no people should ever again have to endure the suffering and death that has been inflicted upon the Syrian people as an ineffective UN Security Council has abdicated its responsibilities.