World Court rejects but worries on NATO genocide
HAGUE June 2 (South News) - The World Court Wednesday rejected a Yugoslav
request to halt NATO air strikes on its territory, but expressed concern
about the legal basis for the bombing.
Judges at the International Court of Justice declined to impose an interim
ruling to halt air strikes by 10 NATO states, They also raised doubts that
Yugoslavia's complaints against eight of the countries fell within the
Genocide Convention.
Presiding Judge Christopher Weeramantry said the court was troubled about
the legal foundation for NATO's action.
``The court is profoundly concerned about the use of force in Yugoslavia.
Under the present circumstances such use raises very serious issues of
international law,'' he said.
Yugoslavia had argued the NATO air strikes that began on March 24 were
illegal and tantamount to genocide. It based its case, filed at the end of
April, on the U.N. charter, the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention.
But the 16 judges dismissed Yugoslavia's argument in each of 10 individual
petitions taken against each of the Nato nations involved in the campaign.
The judges voted 12 to four that the court was not competent to judge
Belgrade's application against Nato countries.
The court completely threw out the complaints against the other two NATO
members, the United States and Spain, on a legal technicality, because the
two countries had opted out of a clause in the Genocide Convention that
states disputes are to be submitted to the World Court.
Hearings before the World Court last month confronted NATO countries with
an aspect of their campaign they had tried to keep quiet -- the shaky legal
grounds for military action.
``Arguably there is no international legal justification for the bombing,''
said Olivier Ribbelink of the Asser Institute for International Law, noting
that no single U.N. Security Council resolution legitimized the air campaign.
He said the court's 15 permanent judges and five ad hoc judges had chosen
``the safe way'' in their majority ruling.
The judges decried the human effect of the conflict, which has stemmed from
Western allegations of ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia's southern province
of Kosovo.
``The court is deeply concerned with the human suffering and loss of life
in Kosovo that forms the background of this dispute and with the continued
loss of life and human suffering in all parts of Yugoslavia,'' Weeramantry
said.
He urged the states to find a peaceful solution.
Yugoslavia was suing 10 NATO states, including Britain, France, Italy and
Germany. It was asking for interim rulings, known as ``provisional
measures,'' to stop the bombing while the court considered Yugoslavia's
complaint.
Although the court refused to issue emergency measures in the remaining
eight cases, deliberations will continue with a final ruling likely to take
years.
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
