NATO IN THE DOCK The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, May 12th, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** Complaints laid against NATO leaders before War Crimes Tribunal and the International Court of Justice. International Court of Justice proceedings The government of Yugoslavia has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hear cases against 10 NATO governments with regard to the bombing of Yugoslavia on the grounds that it violates international law, in particular their obligations not to use force against another state. While US State Department spokesman James Rubin immediately dismissed the request as absurd and frivolous, the Court itself obviously believes there is a case to answer and was due to start hearing the proceedings on May 10. There are a number of relevant laws to be considered. These include: The United Nations Charter, Purposes and Principles Article 1: The Purposes of the United Nations are: 1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace ... In carrying out these purposes: All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.... The 1977 Protocol 1, Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, Article 52 provides for protection of civilian objects: Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals. Civilian objects are all objects which are not military objectives..... Attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives.... military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralisation, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage. In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used. Article 54 provides for the protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population: Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as food-stuffs, agricultural areas for the production of food-stuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive. The 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, Article 1, states: The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations. For more information check out web site: http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/ ****************************************************************** Before the War Crimes Tribunal A group of lawyers from several countries has laid a formal complaint with the "International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia" (War Crimes Tribunal) against the individual leaders of the NATO countries and officials of NATO itself. The group is lead by professors from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto. They have charged Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Javier Solana, Jamie Shea, Jean Chretien, Art Eggleton, Lloyd Axworthy and 60 other heads of state and government foreign ministers, defence ministers and NATO officials, with war crimes committed in NATO's six-week-old bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. The list of crimes includes "wilful killing, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, employment of poisonous weapons or other weapons to cause unnecessary suffering, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity, attack, or bombardment, by whatever means, of undefended towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings, destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion, charity and education, the arts and sciences, historic monuments and works of art and science." The complaint also alleges "open violation" of the United Nations Charter, the NATO treaty itself, the Geneva Conventions and the Principles of International Law Recognised by the Nuremberg Tribunal (the latter of which makes "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances" a crime). Under the Tribunal's Statute "a person who planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of a crime shall be individually responsible for the crime" and "the official position of any accused person, whether as Head of State or Government or as a responsible Government official, shall not relieve such person of criminal responsibility or mitigate punishment." The complaint points to the bombing of civilian targets and alleges that NATO leaders "have admitted publicly to having agreed upon and ordered these actions, being fully aware of their nature and effects" and that "there is ample evidence in the public statements of NATO leaders that these attacks on civilian targets are part of a deliberate attempt to terrorize the population to turn it against its leadership." Under the Statute, the Prosecutor is bound to "initiate investigations ex-officio or on the basis of information obtained from any source, particularly from Governments, United Nations organs, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations" and to "assess the information received or obtained and decide whether there is sufficient basis to proceed". Upon a determination that a case exists, the Prosecutor is bound to "prepare an indictment containing a concise statement of the facts and the crime or crimes with which the accused is charged under the Statute and transmit it to a judge of the Trial Chamber." The complaint asks the Judge to "immediately investigate and indict for serious crimes against international humanitarian law" the 67 named leaders and whoever else shall be determined by the Prosecutor's investigations to have committed crimes in the NATO attack on Yugoslavia commencing March 24, 1999.'' Participating in the action are 15 lawyers and law professors as well as the American Association of Jurists, a pan American organisation of lawyers, judges, law professors and students, with membership in all countries of the American Continent from Tierra del Fuego to Canada, an NGO with consultative status before the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations. Professor Michael Mandel, spokesman for the group of complainants, said in Toronto: "The bombing of civilians is not only immoral, it is criminal and punishable under the laws governing the Tribunal. You cannot kill a woman and child in Belgrade on the theoretical possibility that it might save a woman and child in Pristina. Even in a legal war you cannot kill civilians and destroy an entire country as a military strategy. "But this is an illegal war and the NATO leaders are acting like outlaws. So far they have risked nothing by sending others to do their killing and destroying. We believe that if they are held individually responsible, as the law requires, they won't feel so free to spill other peoples' blood." The Guardian 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. 2010 Australia. 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