A universal vocation” “

“What is particularly striking in an international scenario full of conflicts like the present one is the contradiction between the conflict that is increasingly characterised as ‘low intensity’ and the ‘high intensity’ suffering of the civilian population”. So said the chairman of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) JAKOB KELLENBERGER , in his opening address to the 5th “Bruges Colloquium” on international humanitarian law in early September. The round table, dedicated this year to “the need for justice and the requisites for peace and security”, was organized, as every year, by the College of Europe in Bruges in liaison with the ICRC. It was attended by numerous academics, administrators and experts from various countries. “Human rights have a universal vocation – continued the chairman of the ICRC – although their perception may change from one country to another, and the new situations of conflict impose on us the need to rethink and develop international humanitarian law and to create a new legal framework. How?”. DIFFICULT CONCILIATION. “Investing in respect for human dignity, that is the response”, said KELLENBERGER: “The direction we need to take to ensure peace and security by respecting the human rights of everyone – victims and protagonists alike – is that of doing everything possible to ensure that situations of impunity no longer exist. At the same time we need to ensure that the repression of crimes occurs in the framework of the rule of law, because to preserve security there is no need to humiliate those who have committed a crime, whatever the nature of the act committed. If dignity can only be restored by combating impunity, it is the human dignity of everyone – in its dual sense of physical and mental integrity – that needs to be safeguarded; only in this way can the road to peace be facilitated. We also need to bear in mind that while knowledge of the law does not imply its automatic application, it is a foregone conclusion that an unknown law remains a dead letter. International humanitarian law thus needs to be disseminated, and an important vehicle of transmission is represented by academic environments”. INTERNATIONAL PENAL TRIBUNALS. The establishment of international penal tribunals, in conformity with chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, plays an essential role in the maintenance of peace. “The absence of justice – explained THEODOR MERON, president of the international penal Tribunal for the crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia – coincides with the absence of peace, because people think they can commit crimes with impunity”. “The international Tribunals – he continued – act also as a ‘reminder’ of how far a conflict can degenerate and assume the proportions of a real humanitarian tragedy. But national jurisdictions too are called to intervene, because the international Tribunals cannot assume responsibility for everything: the times needed for the arrest of the accused and the collection of the evidence to incriminate them are excessively long, and the memory of witnesses meantime fades”. The opinion was shared by the Belgian judge DAMIEN VANDERMEERSCH, who stressed: “Time is to the disadvantage of justice” and “it’s preferable for the accused to be judged in his own country”. A doubt was however raised in this regard by JAN WOUTERS, professor of international law at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). He posed the question: “how should the decision of a State not to pursue the violations of humanitarian law recognized by the international community be considered, if this implies a failure by the State to meet the obligations it has previously assumed?” THE HUMAN COMPONENT. “Respect for peace and security is however not just the business of jurists”, concluded MICHEL VEUTHEY, vice-president of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo (Italy). He is convinced that “humanitarian law needs to be made more effective by reinforcing the already existing mechanisms and exploring new approaches to inform and raise the awareness of the players about them. Humanitarian law thus needs to be simplified and made clearer. Apart from the institutions, there are also individuals; it is the human factor that may really influence the political authorities, the media and all those engaged in the pursuit of peace. It is thanks to civil society that a way out of the impasse is found”, Fact File The international Tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia was established on the basis of a Resolution of the UN Security Council of 25 May 1993 (Unscr 827/1993). Based in The Hague (Den Haag, Holland), it was effectively founded on 7 November 1993. The International Institute of Humanitarian Law was created by experts and jurists of various nationalities in San Remo (Italy) in September 1970. It now has 120 members, for the most part jurists, from forty or so countries in all continents. It is a forum of discussion and reflection on such problems as armed conflicts, refugees and asylum-seekers. The Institute has been officially recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UNO in the role of NGO. It enjoys consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) and Council of Europe.