JUST A QUESTION

[bdamomma]

Could the International Criminal Court intervene in this Lebanon/Israel conflict, just asking??? Saying that Israel is committing genocide on civilians in Lebanon, or taking aggressive action on another country.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Well, they went after Milosevic, didn't they?

The problem is that back then they had the support of the U.S.

[mmonk]

2. What power does the ICC have backing it?

We're in a lawless period of the world right now.

[ThomCat]

3. The UN, where the US has an iron-clad veto.

So, No, I don't believe the ICC could get involved.

[Igel]

4. The UN is a power?

It's a congeries.

[jdlh8894]

5. Agreed

The UN is more of a lame duck than Bush.

[ThomCat]

17. But they are still the organizatin that provides the

backing and legitimacy for the international criminal court. They also provide peacekeeping forces that feed the court.

[Igel]

18. At the risk of returning to a thread after

the people have dropped off ...

The UN provides the umbrella for nations to do what they want. They have the ICC, but it's an iffy creature, only if the nations in the UN that belong to it don't try the guilty properly. "Properly" (my word, not theirs) being a rather strange idea.

They provide no peacekeepers. They provide the authorization for member nation's wearing of sky blue helmets. Supposedly that provides some cover, but mostly the cover is provided by keeping the peacekeepers butts uninvolved in anything remotely involving keeping the peace, and retaining excellent relations among those the peacekeepers are to monitor. The more dangerous the group, the greater the need for excellent relations; nonetheless, as soon as they actually do something one or the other group doesn't like, they get shot at.

[goforit]

6. WWIII will take care of that!

[oberliner]

7. Genocide

Genocide: The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group.

The International Criminal Court are investigating three potential cases of genocide:

The Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern Uganda, and Darfur, Sudan.

Source: http://www.icc-cpi.int/cases.html

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

In the four year period between 1998 and 2002, approximately 3.3 million people died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a bloody conflict, largely ignored by the international community, in which the parties showed little respect for human life and dignity. Most of those who died were civilians, killed as a result of war, starvation or disease. Among the violations alleged to have been committed by the various parties are killings of civilians, forced recruitment of child soldiers, destruction of villages, internal displacement, cannibalism, rape and torture.

Darfur

Since 2003, the Sudanese government and its proxy militia, the Janjaweed, have waged a vicious campaign against the people of Darfur, in Sudan’s Western region, and in neighboring Chad. Several hundred thousand people have been killed or seriously injured. More than two million people have been displaced and live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in Chad.

Northern Uganda

The LRA aims to overthrow the government of Uganda and declared that it intends “to rule the country according to the Ten Commandments.” However, its military campaign has mainly consisted of attacks on the civilian population – raping, mutilating and slaughtering or abducting civilians, raiding villages, looting stores and homes, and burning houses and schools.

It is believed that 85 percent of the LRA’s ranks consist of children who were abducted. Children have been abducted primarily from inside Uganda, but also southern Sudan, and forced to become soldiers and commit atrocities against other children, their families and communities. Abducted girls have been raped and sexually enslaved as “wives” by LRA commanders.


Source: www.humanrightsfirst.org

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. Those people are the wrong color.

:( We shouldn't forget Rwanda either.:(

Genocide in Rwanda - 1994 - 800,000 Deaths

Beginning on April 6, 1994, and for the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia using clubs and machetes, with as many as 10,000 killed each day.


http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

[Marie26]

8. ICC can't intervene

It's just a court, like any other. They can really only try people after the fact. And Israel didn't agree to the ICC, anyway, so its citizens probably can't be tried there. The UN or NATO would be a better bet for actual intervention (though it doesn't seem like that'll happen, either.)

[bdamomma]

10. oh shit

Israel didn't agree to the ICC does this mean Israel is immuned from prosecution like America could never be tried, too bad, I wish they would dissolve that immunity stuff.

[Marie26]

13. Pretty much.

Israel & the US both opposed the creation of the ICC. Like any treaty, a country can't be bound to the terms unless it first ratifies the treaty. There's a bit of a loophole here, though, cause Israel did initially sign the treaty, but then refused to ratify it. You can still make the argument that they are bound to the terms under the principles of international customary law, but that's a difficult argument to make. For all practical purposes, Israel probably does have immunity from ICC prosecution.

[Benhurst]

14. Gosh, I wonder why they refused to ratify it. NT

[Marie26]

15. Gosh, I dunno

Probably has something to do w/the oppression of Palestinians.

[MamaBear]

9. Who would bring the complaint?

Wouldn't somebody have to bring charges, and wouldn't those charges have to be against individuals? Can Olmert, for example, be brought up on charges, or would the prosecutors have to go after field commanders for individual incidents?

My understanding of the process is that it usually is put in motion well after the crimes have been committed, and after a thorough investigation has taken place.

[bdamomma]

12. now they are thinking about bringing in ground forces into

Lebanon, and again the US is against a ceasefire, unbelieveable.

[Cleita]

16. What I read on their website is that a sovereign nation

has to file the complaint. Even then they may not decide to hear it. Lebanon as a sovereign nation could appeal to the ICC to bring the Israelis responsible for this to trial. Of course then they have to get them arrested somehow and sent to court.