Changing Scope

I haven't blogged at all over the last 6 months and it's due entirely to applying and interviewing for graduate positions in January and February, and traveling Europe since March.

From July to December I'll be working as an intern for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. During this time I hope to find the time to keep blogging, however, I wanted to make a slight change to the subject I've been writing about.

At the moment my purview is specifically state sanctioned executions. I wanted to change it slightly to include extra-judicial killings. This essentially includes genocide (the ultimate international crime) and mass murder committed by a state, a state body, the army or police. I have a strong interest in International Humanitarian Law, and mass executions are a horrifying, tragic and very real element in modern warfare.

I won't be including other warcrimes, for example torture, because then I think this blog will just start getting far too broad. I want to stick to state sanctioned and extra-judicial killings.

The obvious reason for this inclusion is that for the next 6 months I'll be working heavily with cases regarding war crimes during the Bosnian-Serbian war. As with my internship in New Orleans, I won't be able to talk about specific details of cases that I am working on, but I will be eager to write about the concept of warcrimes, the capture and trial of war criminals and any form of murder directly or indirectly undertaken by a government, government body, police or army outside the purview of the law.

During my visit to the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Berlin I saw a quote on the wall that is almost like a introduction to the horrifying expositions that follows, and it's a quote from Primo Levi an Auschwitz survivor and prolific writer.

"It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we
have to say."

It occurred to me that although the Holocaust has not been repeated in history on the same scale, it certainly has been recreated in part through numerous conflicts, Sudan, Rwanda, Cambodia, Former Yugoslavia. Even with the creation of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, it still occurs. What needs to be done to stop it from continuing? The face of war has changed, and even though it is unlikely that a state will ever adopt a calculated policy of mass extermination like Hitler and the Nazis did, there are still conflicts in which massive amounts of non-combatants are murdered. Warcrimes Tribunals such as the one I will be working with have been extremely successful in holding warcriminals to account for crimes against humanity, but a more serious question is what more can be done to ensure that these crimes aren't allowed to occur at all, and when they do, how best to prosecute them.

Once I'm settled in The Hague I'm sure there will be lots on my mind.

Quote of the day:

"I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man."

- Primo Levi

In The News - July

The Australian Government has made a big step towards ensuring that capital punishment cannot ever exist again in Australia. This is a strong message in support of global abolition and of course greatly in support of our Australians still on death row overseas.

The legislation will draw on the Commonwealth Government's external affairs power in s. 51(xxix) of the constitution. This power, it is argued, can interpreted to allow the Government to act upon international treaties, and therefore legislate on behalf of the states. The international treaty in question is the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, of which we are signatories. We have also co-sponsored a resolution for a moratorium on the death penalty.

Even though it's merely a consolidation of the status quo in Australia, it's an important step in the right direction both at home and abroad. The Human Rights Committee observed that "all steps taken to abolish the death penalty must be viewed as progress towards the enjoyment of the right to life." This is no doubt the case by closing the door completely on the death penalty.

Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and Scott Rush are still on death row in Indonesia, and so any unified approach against the death penalty will not fall on deaf ears with our closest neighbours. What more powerful message to send than a complete and irrevocable refusal to ever allow the return of the death penalty.

The legislation is expected to be past in spring. For the sake of Australians abroad I hope that not too much political debate is raised by the Opposition, because only a bipartisan approach will send a strong enough message to perhaps save lives.

2008 - Death Penalty In Review

Here is a link to a really concise report from the Death Penalty Information Centre.

It shows the consistent trend away from the death penalty, with death row numbers and executions lowered across all States.

It also highlights the economic and social problems the death penalty creates, with taxpayers money being spent on housing death row inmates for over 12 years. With too little money being provided for indigent defendants, some courts have refused to hand down the death penalty until the legislature invests more money in the system.

The death penalty in America is on the verge of collapse, but this could spell even greater disaster for those on death row, as the system has the potential to shut down completely, or become even more draconian in the face of a financial crisis.

Enjoy reading and Happy New Year!

AFR - "Budding diplomats test career waters"

Monday, 01 December 2008 | The Australian Financial Review | Erica Cervini

International internships inspire law students to continue humanitarian work, write Erica Cervini.

As Jihan Mirza walked the halls of the United Nations in Geneva earlier this year, some people assumed she was a diplomat. She was, in fact, a final-year Monash University law student.

For two months Mirza was a UN intern at the Human Rights Council, which gave her the chance to mix with diplomats and academics and learn the finer points of diplomacy.

"It was an amazing experience," says Mirza, who was one of five students awarded a global internship for 2008 by Monash's Castan Centre for Human Rights Law.

Because Mirza was part of the Australian delegation to the Human Rights Council, she had the chance to address plenary sessions in the Palais des Nations on behalf of Australia. On one occasion, she gave Australia's response to human rights issues in Zimbabwe.

Mirza is one of many law students who head overseas to complete internships at organisations such as the Centre for Justice and International Law in Buenos Aires and the Global Policy Forum in New York.

Students often gain credit for the internship as a subject towards their degree and law schools often provide travel grants for the internships. The experience can also provide career direction.

Mirza says her internship has crystallised her decision to work in international policy and human rights. Next year Mirza, who has a Lebanese background, hopes to work for the UN in Lebanon or East Asia.

Sarah Callaghan agrees that doing an international internship cemented her wish to work overseas in humanitarian law. Callaghan spent three months with the UN Commission for Refugees in Cairo in 2003 while in her final year of law at the University of Adelaide.

"It [the internship] made me realise that there were a lot of people doing different things," she says.

"If you are open to opportunities and open to try different things, you never know where they will lead."

After graduating, Callaghan worked for the South Australian minister for justice but was always keen to return overseas.

Callaghan also spent a year in Liberia working on the 2005 elections and two years in Afghanistan working with the minister of counter narcotics with a UN non-governmental organisation on a refugee legal aid project.

She has also worked briefly in the Sudan on a law project.

Now, Callaghan is in Uganda working for Irish Aid on governance issues, such as justice reform, and expects to stay in the country until the end of the year.

John Riordan's three-month Reprieve Australia internship at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Centre in the US has inspired him to seek work overseas in humanitarian law.

Riordan, who finished his law degree at the University of Melbourne in June this year, says the internship in New Orleans gave him large responsibilities.

"I visited three prisoners on death row, and to chat to clients is a huge responsibility," Riordan says.

"We're there to give humanitarian support [so the prisoners] have some contact with the outside world," he says.

"There are not many opportunities in Melbourne to deal with clients so intimately, especially in such serious circumstances."

Riordan, who has assisted barrister Julian McMahon on the Bali Nine case, hopes to do a UN internship next year.

"I am really keen to do something other than corporate work," he says.

Just Punishment - Retail

The documentary about the appeal to save the life of Van Nguyen in Singapore is being retailed on DVD by Ronin Films.

There's also an excellent study guide for anyone tackling this topic on an academic level, or perhaps interested in screening the film to their class.

By far the most powerful element of this film was the ability of the directors to speak intimately with the friends and family of Van, while also having access to the diary kept by Van in prison. Some of the passages are incredibly moving and as soon as I've received my copy I'll be sure to write up a few of the more powerful ones.

In The News - November

It's been 3 months since my last blog entry and during that time the Australian government has been equally as silent on the issue of the death penalty. Yesterday, at midnight, the three convicted terrorists, Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra were executed by firing squad in Indonesia.

________________________________

"A memorial to honour them, bombs to avenge them, terrorists to share glory with them"
- Julian McMahon

As soon as the news broke, there was sadness, ambivolence, relief and mourning. The news flashed with horrific montages and graphic retellings of the explosions. Once again salt is poured over a wound that has taken years to even begin healing. The three unrepetant terrorists will no longer taunt us with their defiant smiles, but they have succeeded in leaving a legacy of pain and suffering long after their violent deed has concluded. They have now been enshrined as martyrs in the eyes of some, when they should have been left to disappear into obscurity. Now they will exist as a rally point for future extremist activities, their names will no doubt be the catchcry for the next generation of ignorance and hate. I'm worried that the saddest chapter in this saga is yet to come, as the Bali Bombers legacy grows popularity and results in even more suffering. I sincerely hope that this isn't the case, but there can be no doubt that the execution has created sympathy for them amongst some Indonesians. If the Bali Bombers had been left to die imprisoned, they would have been forgotten, lonely old men who were never given the opportunity to become martyrs.

_______________________________

"I will not beg for their lives to be spared. But I seek that which I consider more appropriate. A penalty which will serve as a constant reminder to others. A penalty which will not destroy the lives of their families"
- Brian Deegan

Further, the painful issue would not have resurfaced so heavily in the media, their faces would not have been plastered over ever newspaper and headlines, their exploits not retold so graphically. The suffering of the victims families is now twofold as they are forced to try to seek closure all over again, while dealing with the news suggesting that there is some support for the bombers in Indonesia, with crowds at their funeral. One of the fathers of an Australian victim made it clear that he just wanted to entire horror story put to rest, and that now the executions have occurred, he can finally forget the pain and focus on the healing. He suggested that any families seeking closure from the execution would likely be disappointed and find that the only thing that has changed is three more corpses on the pile, and the lives of three more families irrevocably changed for the worse.

________________________________

"A retreat from principal to political opportunism"
- Colin McDonald QC

I'm furious that the Rudd Government has remained totally silent the last 2 weeks as momentum builds towards the execution of the Bali Bombers. Their silence indicates their unwillingness to adhere to their international obligations and their own values. It shows me that Rudd is a politician first and a man of principal second, and it's for this reason that silence came first, and then, after the execution, principals second.

_________________________________

"When civilised societies reject the death penalty... they declare they do not measure the worth of human lives by the same scale that such men do. It is a repudiation of the logic of terrorism."

- Editorial, The Age

Meanwhile, much like in Van Nguyen's case so many years ago, the Asian press are rediculing our inconsisitent policy to the death penalty. When Howard supported the execution of Saddam Hussein by saying he wouldn't shed any tears for the dictator, the Singaporean media jumped on his words and hypocrisy for showing double standards when it came to non-australians. Now, the Rudd Government have gone one peg lower, they've been too cowardly to even make their values known until after the fact. I'd rather our government be vocal about their values rather than behaving like a snake in the grass, only rearing its head when the trigger has already been pulled. Their silence is even more damaging in context with past comments made by not only Howard, but Downer - "I wouldn't weep for people who have killed 88 Australians if they were executed. I can't pretend otherwise" and even Rudd "They deserve the justice that will be delivered to them. They are murderers, they are mass murderers, and they are also cowards."

________________________________

"Wherever we are not consistent, the Asian press accuses us of being hypocritical. They ask why should there be one rule for Australians and a different rule for non-Australians?"
- Julian McMahon

Perhaps even more close to home is the massive risk our inconsistency has created for the final 3 of the Bali Nine on death row. Scott Rush, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Their chances of gaining a reprieve from their impending executions is now severely limited and the impact of any appeal from the Australian Government will seem impotent at best.

At least now the Government can move on from their political pandering and the families can truly begin healing without any more death or suffering plaguing the healing process.

Politics Over Principles

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith pre-empted criticism yesterday by claiming that refusing to appeal for the lives of the Bali bombers was not inconsistent to Australia’s opposition to the death penalty.

Mr Smith’s clear refusal to address the execution Bali bombers is more than simply remaining silent, it is a clear acceptance of the sentence. As an abolitionist nation we must show that we do not only reject capital punishment in Australia but also worldwide, anything else would be inconsistent to our values. Indeed, we do push for abolition worldwide, and as a member of the United Nations we are not softly spoken on this point, nor should we be. Indonesia, as one of our closest neighbours, as a nation that is a liberal democracy, as a country where three Australians are sentenced to die, how can we do anything but make our refusal to accept capital punishment abundantly clear? Our integrity, our principles and the lives of our own citizens depend on it.

By refusing to apply our abolitionist values to the execution of terrorists, yet vowing to always appeal for the lives of Australians on death row, Mr Smith and Prime Minister Rudd are creating a glaring inconsistency. Would they change their tune were the Bali bombers Australian citizens? I sense a paradox.

The Bali bombers are to be executed for a crime committed, in part, against the Australian people, and we have a duty as abolitionists to send a clear message in response – don’t kill in our name.

I am not asking that we excuse the Bali bombers, but that we treat the value of life as inherently equal, terrorist or drug dealer, Australian or Indonesian, and send a clear, unequivocal message that we in no way support the execution of the Bali bombers.

Capital punishment in the world will only dwindle when our stance is united and unconditional, when we are consistent with our values, and when our politicians refuse to allow a nation’s principles to bend under politics.

Quote of the day:

"We are not so mad as to think that we shall create a world in which murder will not occur. We are fighting for a world in which murder will no longer be legal."

- Albert Camus