Whose Justice, Whose Peace?

On 22nd October, Michael Mansfield QC gave an informative and stimulating talk on International Criminal Justice to the Solicitors International Human Rights Group (SIHRG) at their monthly speaker event.
Mansfield is no stranger to investigating alleged atrocities committed and perpetrated by states. He is currently representing the de Menezes family at the inquest into the police shooting of their son, Jean Charles de Menezes, on 7 July 2005.

Giving a staunch defence of the need to establish international rules of justice, Mansfield traced back the concept of supra-national law to Thomas Paine and his writings on the American War of Independence. Subsequently, the League of Nations; the Kellogg-Briand Pact; the Nuremberg Trials; the United Nations; the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court have all been attempts to try to curb the excessive use of power by nations. Mansfield argued that these international mechanisms are vital because when atrocities occur people demand accountability and it is only by holding people to account that a culture of impunity can be challenged.
Mansfield admits that the present system is flawed but insists that as the reaches of justice tentatively cross borders, dark shadows are being cast over perpetrators and victims are being reassured that somebody is listening. He spoke of Thomas Hurndall, a photographer and human rights activist who was shot in the head by the Israeli army in the Gaza strip in 2003. At a UK inquest into his death, where Mansfield represented the family, the jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing. Hurndall was the third human rights activist to be killed within months. It is alleged that the deaths were the result of a blanket policy implemented by the Israeli army to shoot anybody who stepped onto a certain strip of land. When General Almog who presided over that policy, came to London, a warrant was obtained for his arrest. The General was tipped off, he refused to get off his plane and was allowed to fly back to Israel. While ultimately unsuccessful, Mansfield argued that actions like these are important because they increase the pressure on individuals who think they can act with impunity.

The current challenge for those who support International Justice is ensuring its credibility. With neither the US nor the UK being held to account over the war in Iraq and with all the cases in front of the ICC from African states, many people question whose justice is being represented and whose peace is being won. Mansfield argued, it is vital that minimum thresholds such as the prohibition of torture are agreed and upheld without exception. Hypocrisy must not occur, Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition cannot go unchallenged and if powerful nations such as the US and UK are alleged to have committed atrocities, those atrocities must be investigated and where appropriate prosecutions must take place.

The final question which Mansfield posed was whether in some situations, forums such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in South Africa might be more beneficial and less divisive than legal proceedings. However, as one audience member suggested it may be that it is only with the threat of the latter that the former has any chance of success.