– July 1993: Bosniak refugee victims in France bring a case
based on the crimes committed during the fighting in
former Yugoslavia.
– 1995 A Rwandan victim, also a refugee in France, brings a
case against a Rwandan clergyman on the ground of his
alleged involvement in the genocide of April 1994.
February 1993-November 1994: after the adoption of two
Security Council resolutions, two ad hoc tribunals are set
up, one to try crimes committed in former Yugoslavia, and
the other to try cases of genocide perpetrated in Rwanda.
– July 1998: The Statute of the permanent International
Criminal Court is adopted in Rome.
– October 1998: a case is brought by Chilean victims who
are refugees in France, based on crimes committed in
Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship.
On each of these occasions, the FIDH was there to
support, and where possible to become a party to the
proceedings. It is part of our mandate to bring appropriate
proceedings whenever human rights or human rights
defenders are challenged.
But in the cases listed above, the action of the FIDH
comes within a new context, that of legal action: States
must seek out and try or extradite persons allegedly guilty
of serious violations of international humanitarian law ; if
they fail to carry out this obligation, when crimes are
committed of such gravity that they shake the conscience
of all humanity, human rights NGOs must bring legal
proceedings themselves. The same applies when the
international community, which should be setting up
judicial institutions with universal jurisdiction to try these
same accused, slows down the work on the Statute of the
Court.
In both situations, the FIDH acts not only by using all
means to encourage reconciliation of peoples by fighting
against impunity for those who violate their fundamental
rights; but also by fighting against the impunity from which
the Pinochets of the world could benefit. When States do
not fulfil their obligations by taking adequate steps, NGOs
have a duty to remedy this inexcusable inaction.
Jean-Pierre Getti