Expressing "extreme dismay" with the June 26 ruling, Amnesty International noted that: "This restrictive interpretation of Belgian national law is inconsistent with international law... The organization believes that the Belgian Parliament, in enacting the 1993 law providing for universal jurisdiction over war crimes, as well as in its 1999 amendment to that law extending its scope to crimes against humanity and genocide, intended to provide Belgian courts with the full extent of universal jurisdiction over these crimes permitted under international law."
Explanations for the Appeals Court's ruling range from speculation that Belgian judges feared an onset of universal jurisdiction fatigue to conspiratorial whispers that US-Israeli pressure had shaped the judges' thinking.
GALVANIZING EFFECT
Regardless of the reason for the Appeals Court's surprising ruling, it has galvanized a broad-based coalition of human rights organizations, victims of war crimes from a variety of countries and politicians from across Belgium's political spectrum. While lawyers for the Sabra and Shatila plaintiffs were busy drafting an appeal to Belgium's Supreme Court arguing that the June 26 ruling violated the spirit and the letter of the 1993 and 1999 laws, human rights activists and Belgian parliamentarians were busy drafting new provisions aimed at sharpening universal jurisdiction legislation as a weapon of the weak. Legislators feared that the Appeals Court decision could render the laws of 1993 and 1999 obsolete.
Explanations for the Appeals Court's ruling range from speculation that Belgian judges feared an onset of universal jurisdiction fatigue to conspiratorial whispers that US-Israeli pressure had shaped the judges' thinking.
GALVANIZING EFFECT
Regardless of the reason for the Appeals Court's surprising ruling, it has galvanized a broad-based coalition of human rights organizations, victims of war crimes from a variety of countries and politicians from across Belgium's political spectrum. While lawyers for the Sabra and Shatila plaintiffs were busy drafting an appeal to Belgium's Supreme Court arguing that the June 26 ruling violated the spirit and the letter of the 1993 and 1999 laws, human rights activists and Belgian parliamentarians were busy drafting new provisions aimed at sharpening universal jurisdiction legislation as a weapon of the weak. Legislators feared that the Appeals Court decision could render the laws of 1993 and 1999 obsolete.