Aegis calls on Government to adopt Parliament’s recommendations and completely close the ‘impunity gap’ for genocide suspects in UK

In a report released today, the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights says inconsistencies in the way the UK applies international law have created an “impunity gap” for perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It commends the Government's recent decision to amend to legislation to partially address the problem, but calls for it to close remaining loopholes in the law and to re-establish a specialist war crimes unit to investigate people in the UK who are suspected of such offences.

Under the law as it stands, no-one in the UK can be prosecuted for war crimes in internal armed conflicts, genocide or crimes against humanity committed before 2001. Even if people here are suspected of committing such offences since 2001, they can only be prosecuted if legally resident here, not merely if they are present in the country (for eg., visiting on a student or business visa).

The Aegis Trust worked with MPs and Lord Carlile QC, Lord Falconer QC and Baroness D’Souza to prepare amendments to the Coroners and Criminal Justice Bill which would have closed these loopholes. Tabled in the House of Lords, they triggered the Government’s decision last month to extend jurisdiction of UK courts to prosecute international crimes as far back as 1991.

As the Committee points out, however, this only takes jurisdiction back to the date on which Crimes Against Humanity became recognised as crimes in international law. It argues for jurisdiction on genocide and war crimes in internal armed conflicts to be extended back to the dates on which they were recognised in international law (e.g. 1948 for genocide).

The Committee also supports Aegis’ call for replacement of the ‘residence’ test with a simple ‘presence’ test, so that anyone present on UK soil could be subject to jurisdiction on international crimes, not only those who are legally resident. This is the test used by other common law countries such as Canada, the US, New Zealand, South Africa.

“The Aegis Trust is delighted that the Joint Committee on Human Rights has adopted all of our recommendations for strengthening UK law in this area,” says Aegis’ Head of Campaigns Nick Donovan, whose evidence is quoted in the Committee’s report. “We too commend the Government for the bold progress made last month, and call on it to finish the job by closing remaining legal loopholes which benefit suspected war criminals in the UK.”

In June Aegis published a report that brought together, for the first time, details of people entering the UK who are suspected of international crimes. The report – 'Suspected war criminals and genocidaires in the UK: Proposals to strengthen UK law' – examines 18 cases, including those of suspected genocidaires from Rwanda, alleged torturers from Zimbabwe, Iraq, Liberia and the Congo, and alleged war criminals from Afghanistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. They include such people as a Lieutenant Colonel from KHAD, the Soviet-era Afghan government’s secret police; an alleged Tamil Tiger assassination hit squad driver, and a member of Sierra Leone’s ‘Mosquito’ rebel group, notorious for murder, rape, looting, burning, sexual slavery and forced amputations.

The Joint Committee’s report comes at a time when the workload of the UK Border Agency’s war crimes team is increasing. Several weeks ago, the Government revealed that in the first six months of 2009, recommendations of immigration status refusal following investigation were up four-fold on the preceding four years. Since 2004, there have been 421 cases where immigration action was recommended and 30 cases where the matter was referred was made to the police. How many of these people are currently at large in the UK is unclear.

The Shame of South Africa

Every time I hear about terrible things that happen in Africa I probably naively think to myself that at least South Africa is sorted out now. At least Apartheid is over and the power has shifted back to the blacks where it belongs without too much bloodshed or economical disruption like in Zimbabwe. In fact things in South Africa have started to look very positive lately. I presume they are dealing with the AIDS epidemic or have managed at least to sweep it under the carpet whilst the world concentrates on other things.

The last time I saw South Africa on the TV was in fact when the South African Airways Open was played at a stunning location on the coast. Fabulous! Then I saw the news yesterday and I started to get angry. I am just old enough to remember the news coverage of riots during apartheid and when apartheid was ended I think I was hoping that I would never see riots in South Africa again. Mandela was released and became the countries leader and it looked like a nation of hope. It was a nation with a future and still is.

The problem with South Africa is that its leaders since Mandela have been conspicuous by their lack of willingness to criticise some of the regimes surrounding them. These regimes have displaced nations which has resulted millions or refugees in the region. South Africa swallowed most of these refugees and has allowed itself over time to develop a massive immigration problem with some estimates of up to 5 million illegal immigrants. Whilst this constant trickle of immigration seems to have suited everyone up until recently, the tides of opinion have changed recently though and as unemployment and rising food prices have hit South Africa as they have the rest of the world, its peoples' frustrations have been turned to severe violence against the immigrants.

It seems that rising food prices are something no government has planned for or taken into consideration in the formation of their general policies, least of all the UK, least of all South Africa. What I find difficult is that South Africa has a recent history of unspeakable violence and hardship. But it was a violence and hardship that it overcame to become what it is today. For the people of South Africa now to be committing violence against the weakest members of its society is an absolutely hypocritical thing for them to be doing. It is not that long ago that they themselves were being tortured and killed just for trying to make a better life for themselves, for trying to free themselves of tyranny and oppression.

These immigrants who are being persecuted are the people of South Africa 20 years ago. They are vulnerable and weak and all they want to do is get on with their lives. South Africa needs to remember where it comes from. It is the same nation that persevered against and eventually broke free from oppression. It is the same nation that flourished when everyone around the world predicted that it would collapse into chaos. Its leaders need find their voices and lead their people and set an example to the rest of Africa as it has done since Apartheid ended. It needs to do it because at the moment it is one of only a handful of countries in Africa which can say that it does represent the potential that the whole continent has to offer.

Zimbabwe Elections....I can't hold it in any more!

I've been resisting and resisting to write about Zimbabwe for a while now because I have always thought little of the place and the little man who runs it. It's certainly not at the top of my agenda and the last thing I wanted to appear is negative towards a country that continually pokes the UK, runs away and escapes us when we try to swipe at it. Somehow we seem to look bad even against Zimbabwe when this happens. We come across as this huge vindictive and petty colonial power that is somehow doing its best to undermine this poor struggling martyr of Africa. How far from reality could that be.

In reality, I honestly don't think our government gives a stuff about Zimbabwe any more than it does about Tibet, Sudan or all these little insignificants. Why? because there is nothing in it for us to care any more. I think the reason Zimbabwe gets as much interest as it does is because Mugabe has banned the BBC and the British press from his country and it is driving them absolutely potty.

If you think about it, these elections aren't going to yield any surprises. We know Mugabe will win again. We know the system is about as corrupt as systems can get and in truth we also probably don't care much either. The chances are that there will be violence and that is a real shame. I like to think that things might for once go off peacefully. However the press wants action so it looms like a hungry wolf, waiting to see if Zimbabwe errupts into violence, perhaps on a scale similar to Kenya or just about any other African country at some point in the history of the world. If and when it does, the great british press will surely have its day once again and at any cost! Sadly nothing changes.