Lately the debate over universal jurisdiction has centered on two cases lodged in Belgium. One charged former Congolese Foreign Minister Yerodia Ndombasi for inciting and abetting crimes against humanity during a rebellion against Congolese President Laurent-Desire Kabila. The other seeks to indict Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, retired Israeli General Amos Yaron, the late Phalangist leader Elie Hobeika and others with responsibility for the massacre of Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila in 1982, crimes for which no one has ever stood trial. On June 26, a Belgian Court of Appeals ruled that the case against Sharon and others was inadmissible for trial in Belgium on the unexpected grounds that the accused were not found on Belgian soil. But reports of the demise of the Sharon case - repeated at each twist in the Belgian proceedings - are greatly exaggerated.
UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION: WEAPON OF THE WEAK?
The principle of universal jurisdiction, encoded in the Fourth Geneva Conventions, international customary law and the 1984 Convention on Torture, is based on customary law as well as a consensus, strengthened by the horrors of World War II, that some crimes are so heinous that they threaten the entire human race. The jurisdiction for prosecuting these crimes must be universal, not simply territorial. The Geneva Conventions specifically state that all signatories to the convention have not only the right but also the duty to either prosecute or extradite individuals guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION: WEAPON OF THE WEAK?
The principle of universal jurisdiction, encoded in the Fourth Geneva Conventions, international customary law and the 1984 Convention on Torture, is based on customary law as well as a consensus, strengthened by the horrors of World War II, that some crimes are so heinous that they threaten the entire human race. The jurisdiction for prosecuting these crimes must be universal, not simply territorial. The Geneva Conventions specifically state that all signatories to the convention have not only the right but also the duty to either prosecute or extradite individuals guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.