Nowhere to Hide: Defeat of the Sovereign Immunity Defense for Crimes of Genocide and the Trials of Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussei

From the Inside Flap Foreword, by Desmond Tutu In the grand sweep of history, humanity finds itself at a turning point. During the 20th century, we both sank to the lowest levels of depravity and strove to reach the heights of humankindness. Even during the darkest days of the Ukrainian famines, the Holocaust gas chambers, the Cambodian killing fields and the Rwandan death pits, there were those who resisted. Those who knew that humanity was worthy of so much more. Those who knew that life was dear, and not meant to be thrown away in mass quantities based upon the ethnicity, race, religion or nationality of the victims. Sometimes, those resisters were precious few. Sometimes they were many. Often, their voices were only heard by those individuals they saved—or by God alone. But they were there, working against the oppressors, hiding families in their basements, smuggling children across borders, putting them-selves in harm’s way to save others.Collectively, over time, their spirit has found a broader voice. They are now heard. And they tell us what we already know to be true. Genocide, by whatever name and for whatever purpose, is wrong. Their voices rang out against genocide in one of the first United Nations General Assembly resolu-tions. They are reflected in the landmark treaty of 1948 that was the progeni-tor of the human rights movement. Because of their efforts, genocide is now universally condemned and has finally been made a crime. What has been missing since that condemnation occurred is consistent action. So the strug-gle continued.Since the end of the Cold War, however, political will within states has begun turning toward enforcement—undertaking action to stop genocide. But the turn is neither complete nor assured. The international community has increasingly become willing to stop genocide and bring those who com-mit it to justice. Yet this has been on a very selective basis. Creation of a permanent International Criminal Court at The Hague, with jurisdiction over crimes of genocide, offers renewed hope that prevention of genocide can be accomplished so that punishment does not have to ensue.A key finding of South Africa’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission was that political leaders felt a sense of impunity which allowed them to carry out the government’s dreadful Apartheid policies for decades. If that sense of impunity is removed or diminished, then (perhaps out of self-interest) such leaders will find it more difficult to perpetrate human rights abuses. The world’s outrage at genocide, together with the new ICC, and the prosecution of leaders from the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Iraq who committed genocide, promises to remove or diminish that sense of impu-nity—taking with it the impetus to commit the crime.It is with this wish that we move into the 3rd millennium. That political leaders will feel accountable for their actions. That those who are wronged can have justice. That humanity finally views itself as engaged globally—in an inextricably linked life cycle, where no one is more or less important than anyone else. For that would erase the intrinsic reason for genocide—the su-periority of one group over another. Professor Kelly’s book, along with those of other like-minded interna-tional legal scholars, helps us to chart that path and reminds us that we are all in this together. I am happy to be associated with this work, and implore the reader to remember the sacrifices of those who came before. Without them, humanity would not have progressed even this far. I am confident that it will go much farther. - Desmond M. Tutu Archbishop Emeritus Cape Town, South Africa Product Description This work tracks two dynamics: the evolution of genocide into an international crime and the erosion of sovereign immunity as a defense to prosecution. Both dynamics meet in the trials of Slobodan Milosevic for the Bosnian genocide at Srebrenica and Saddam Hussein for the Kurdish and Marsh Arab genocides. Whil