Human rights governance

ICC successes (2)

• From 2003 to 2021 the ICC had two determined chief prosecutors: Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Fatou Bensouda who significantly raised the global standing of the court. In 2021, the British barrister, Karim Khan, became the ICC's third chief prosecutor.

• The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued 13 convictions across its cases since its establishment

  • (2012: Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese warlord, was sentenced to 14 years for human rights abuses, including recruiting child soldiers. He was released in 2020.)

  • (2014: Germain Katanga, another Congolese warlord, was sentenced to 12 years for atrocities committed during Congo's civil war.)

  • 2016: Ahmad al-Mahdi, a militant Islamist, was sentenced to nine years for destroying historic sites and artefacts sites in Mali. The verdict has been important in developing the concept of 'cultural terrorism' in international law.

  • The ICC has expanded its investigations significantly beyond Africa, launching investigations into alleged human rights violations by allied forces in Afghanistan (2020) and the Israeli Defence Force on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (2019).

  • In 2020, the Sudanese government agreed that its former president, Omar al-Bashir, should face ICC charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Although Omar al-Bashir was indicted in 2009, his government refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the court to try him. However, when he was overthrown in 2019, the new Sudanese government agreed to cooperate with the ICC.

ICC failures (5)

• In 2019, the former president of Cote d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, was acquitted by the ICC for post-election violence that claimed 3,000 lives. Gbagao was being tried for crimes including murder and gang rape.

• The ICC indicted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur. Despite this, Bashir continued to travel widely in Africa without arrest. The ICC dropped its investigations into war crimes in Darfur due to the lack of cooperation from the UNSC and Sudan's unwillingness to accept the jurisdiction of what he called a 'colonial court".

• The ICC indicted Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta for the killing of over 1,000 people following the country's disputed 2007 election. Although Kenya accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC, Kenyan authorities refused to hand over the necessary evidence and the Chief Prosecutor dropped the charges. Kenyatta claimed that the court was 'biased' and simply the 'toy of declining imperialist powers'

• Doesn’t have jurisdiction everywhere – 70% of world population doesn’t accept it (USA, India, China, Russia) – common weakness of all courts and tribunals

• The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued 13 convictions across its cases since its establishment

ICJ successes (5)

• In 1992, the ICJ settled a complicated border dispute between El Salvador and Honduras.

• In 2002, the ICJ settled a dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon over the ownership of an oil-rich peninsula.

• In 2012, the ICJ decided that Senegal must put the former president of Chad, Hissène Habré, on trial for crimes against humanity and torture. Habré had sought refuge in Senegal but, as a result of the judgment, Senegal put him on trial. In 2016, he was found guilty of the killing of 40,000 people and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

• In 2019, India brought a case against Pakistan at the ICJ. According to India, Pakistan was breaking international law by not allowing consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian naval officer, convicted in Pakistan of spying. India won the case when Pakistan agreed that, 'As a responsible state, Pakistan will grant consular access to Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav according to Pakistani laws.'

• In 2022, the ICJ ruled that Uganda owed $325 million in reparations to the Democratic Republic of Congo due to military intervention from 1998-2003. Uganda complied and paid the first instalment in Sept 2022

ICJ failures (when it was ignored) (7)

• When the UNGA asked for advice on the wall that Israel was building to separate it from the Palestinian territories, the ICJ declared the structure illegal'. The then-Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, condemned the ruling as 'one-sided and politically motivated' and made clear that 'the state of Israel absolutely rejects the ruling [of the court]'.

• In 2010, the ICJ delivered the advisory opinion that Kosovo had been legitimately able to declare independence from Serbia in 2008. The decision was welcomed by those states that recognise Kosovo's independence, but unsurprisingly it was ignored by Serbia and its key supporter Russia.

•   2022 – ICJ ruled that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had no justification in international law and therefore ‘The Russian Federation’ should immediately suspend operations’ Russia refused to accept the ruling responding that the ICJ had no jurisdiction since they were acting out of self-defence

•   In 2021 the ICJ ruled in favour of Somalia against Kenya in a maritime border dispute BUT Kenya rejected the judgment and accused the court of ‘substantiative and persistent procedural unfairness from a biased bench, and the denial of a right to a fair hearing’

• UK Chagos islands 2021

ECtHR successes (4)

• Beizaras and Levickas v Lithuania (2020): When two gay men posted a picture of them kissing on Facebook this unleashed a storm of criticism against them in Lithuania, much of it very violent. The authorities, however, decided not to launch an investigation since the couple's actions were so 'eccentric' that they were bound to generate hostility, 'as the majority of Lithuanian society very much appreciated traditional family values'. According to the ECtHR, by failing to prosecute, Lithuania had shared in this discriminatory mindset and so was in defiance of Article 14 (freedom from discrimination).

• Buturuga v Romania (2020): Ms Buturuga's claims that she had suffered significant and continued domestic violence from her husband and that he had accessed her private electronic communications was dismissed in the Romanian courts as insufficiently serious for a prosecution. In its judgment, the ECtHR stated that Romania had failed to recognise Ms Buturuga's right not be subject to torture, inhumane or degrading treatment (Article 3) and her right to privacy (Article 8).

• In 2020, the Azerbaijan Supreme Court quashed the 2014 conviction of the opposition politician, Ilgar Mammadov, after the ECtHR had declared that his conviction was based solely on his criticism of the government.

• It is made up of countries with similar ideologies and similar cultural ideas of human rights

ECtHR failures (4)

• In the Sejdic-Finci case (2009) the ECtHR ruled that the constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina was discriminatory because it restricted election to public office to Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs, so excluding Jews and Roma. As of 2021, Bosnia-Herzegovina is still in defiance of Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights which forbids discrimination.

• In 2017, the ECtHR stated that the conviction of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, for money laundering and fraud was 'arbitrary and unfair'. Russia has, however, ignored this ruling and in 2021 Navalny's suspended prison sentence was changed to a prison sentence in spite of condemnation by the US and the European Union.

• In 2020, the Council of Europe expressed 'profound concern' that the UK government had not complied with ECtHR judgments that it should reopen cases involving killings carried out by the security services in Northern Ireland

• In 2021, in two separate judgments the ECtHR declared that Russia had committed war crimes during its war with Georgia in 2008 and that its annexation of Crimea in 2014 was illegal. Moscow has however ignored both judgments.

UN Special Tribunals - Former Yugoslavia

• In the Sejdic-Finci case (2009) the ECtHR ruled that the constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina was discriminatory because it restricted election to public office to Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs, so excluding Jews and Roma. As of 2021, Bosnia-Herzegovina is still in defiance of Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights which forbids discrimination.

• In 2017, the ECtHR stated that the conviction of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, for money laundering and fraud was 'arbitrary and unfair'. Russia has, however, ignored this ruling and in 2021 Navalny's suspended prison sentence was changed to a prison sentence in spite of condemnation by the US and the European Union.

• In 2020, the Council of Europe expressed 'profound concern' that the UK government had not complied with ECtHR judgments that it should reopen cases involving killings carried out by the security services in Northern Ireland

• In 2021, in two separate judgments the ECtHR declared that Russia had committed war crimes during its war with Georgia in 2008 and that its annexation of Crimea in 2014 was illegal. Moscow has however ignored both judgments.

UN Special Tribunals - Cambodia

• Established in 1997 to try the surviving members of the murderous Khmer Rouge government (1975-79), responsible for the deaths of 2 million people.

• Has handed out 3 life imprisonment sentences:

  • Nuon Chea, Khmer Rouge chief political ideologist

  • Kaing Guek Eva, head of the S21 mass killing centre

  • Khteu Samphan, the former head of state

UN Special tribunal - Rwanda

• Opened in 1997 to investigate the Rwandan Genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsis were murdered

• Convicted 61 people of complicity in the Genocide, including former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, who became the first head of government to be convicted on charges of genocide

UN special Tribunal - Sierra Leone

• Opened in 2002 to try those who committed atrocities during the country's 10-year civil war

• Sentenced Liberian president Taylor to 50 years' imprisonment for complicity in the war's atrocities

UN special tribunals weaknesses/critiques (5)

• The Nuremberg and Tokyo international tribunals which tried those accused of war crimes were accused of delivering ‘victor’s justice’. The US sat in judgment on Japanese war criminals and yet the Americans themselves have been accused of war crimes for the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• NATO bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo War in 1999 invalidated claims that this was a humanitarian intervention and NATO could be held accountable for war crimes

• The tribunal investigating the Rwandan genocide has also been criticised for only having convicted Hutus, rather than the Tutsis who also committed atrocities during that period

• The trial of Charles Taylor was held in The Hague and he was imprisoned in the UK so critics claim the court has helped reinforce neocolonial stereotypes that Africa cannot deliver justice itself

• 2015 – Russia vetoed the establishment of a UN tribunal into the shooting down of Malaysian Flight 17 over Ukraine

First Gulf War 1991

• States cooperated to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

• Bush was not prepared to topple Saddam because this would be going beyond the UN mandate and, consequently, be in defiance of international law.

• Saddam went on to brutally suppress Kurdish uprisings in northern Iraq, UNSC quickly passed UN Resolution 688, condemning Saddam Hussein's retribution against Kurdish rebels, provided France, the UK and the US with the authority to establish 'no-fly zones' within Iraqi borders.

• The intervention was code-named 'Operation Provide Comfort, indicating the way in which morality, rather than strategic self-interest, was used to justify action

Somalia 1992-3

• President George H. W. Bush deployed US troops in Somalia with the best possible humanitarian intentions.

• However, troops soon found themselves in a quagmire, unable to distinguish between rival clans, militias and civilians. Lacking a legitimate government to defend, the US military was unable to successfully cooperate with forces within Somalia. US troops were quickly seen as an alien occupying force.

• The US people also quickly forgot the initial humanitarian justification for intervention, especially after grisly footage of the aftermath of the Battle of Mogadishu was broadcast on national television.

• Lacking public support for continued US involvement and with no end in sight to the fighting, President Clinton withdrew all US forces from Somalia by 1994. To achieve its objectives, a humanitarian intervention therefore needs to have both a realistic chance of success and the political will to be carried through to completion. In Somalia, neither proved to be the case.

• Resulted in Somalia syndrome, where states were scared to intervene

Rwanda 1994

• The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, was a mass slaughter of Tutsi in Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War, which had started in 1990.

• It was directed by members of the Hutu majority government during the

• 100-day period from 7 April to mid-July 1994.

• As many as 800,000 Rwandans may have been killed in the bloodbath out of a population of 6.3 million (1993).

The Balkans 1992-5

• Peacekeepers were operating in a war zone, but without the means even to defend themselves. For example, Srebrenica fell when lightly armed UN Dutch peacekeepers handed over control of the enclave to superior Bosnian Serb forces.

• when NATO launched Operation Deliberate Force in 1995, it established conditions for a lasting peace. Subdued by air power, the Bosnian Serbs agreed to a peace deal at Dayton, Ohio. As part of the settlement, NATO forces were deployed to rebuild Bosnia.

• The operation's success was due to the fact that, at its peak, 60,000 troops were deployed, often in a policing role.

• A UN mandate confirmed NATO's operational legitimacy when it established and assigned a UN High Representative to ensure good and impartial governance in the region.

• NATO troops were actively involved in a wide variety of military and non-military roles, ranging from disarming militias to safely accompanying children to school.

Kosovo 1999

• Kosovar Albanians wanted to separate from Serbia and establish an independent state.

• The Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, launched a major military offensive in order to crush the separatist movement.

• To many in the West this seemed to be yet more 'ethnic cleansing' in the region and Blair wanted to push for military intervention

• In March, NATO began an aerial bombardment against Serbia.

• In April, Blair flew to Washington, DC to persuade President Clinton that NATO might need to prepare for a full-scale land invasion.

• The threat of a NATO ground offensive forced Milosevic to hand over Kosovo to NATO administration, but it legally remained a part of Serbia.

• Subsequently, Kosovo Force (KFOR) took over the responsibilities of re-establishing the infrastructure, disarming rival groups, resettling refugees and preventing acts of revenge.

• In Blair’s April 1999 Chicago speech, he said 'acts of genocide can never be a purely internal matter' which made the Blair Doctrine

East Timor 1999-2001

• Indonesia annexed East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, in 1975.

• The cultural heritage of East Timor was distinct from Indonesia and parts of the mostly Catholic population wanted independence.

• Following years of separatist resistance, in 1999 the Indonesian government reluctantly agreed to allow East Timor an independence referendum. Those in favour of independence won 78% of the vote. This provoked a violent backlash by pro-Indonesian militias backed by the government in Jakarta.

• During the resulting violence, half a million East Timorese were driven from their homes, threatening a refugee crisis.

• Australian prime minister John Howard swiftly declared that, as the largest regional power and the one most likely to be affected by a refugee catastrophe, Australia would lead any UN force deployed to keep the peace.

• President Clinton put significant economic pressure on Indonesia to allow a UN peacemaking force into the country.

• UN Resolution 1264 authorised a multinational force, led by Australia, to enter East Timor, with a robust mandate to defeat and disarm militias.

• Once stability had been restored, in 2001, elections were held for East Timor's constituent assembly, which approved a constitution. On 20 May 2003, East Timor formally gained independence.

Sierra Leone 2000

• During the 1990s, Sierra Leone endured a particularly brutal civil war. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh, was responsible for numerous atrocities, including mutilation, and was backed by Charles Taylor,President of Liberia, in return for 'blood diamonds'.

• In May 2000, as the RUF advanced on the capital, Freetown, the Blair government sent a military force to help evacuate foreign nationals. The, elite British troops began to engage in highly mobile operations against the RUF and allied militia, such as the West Side Boys.

• Consequently, the Sierra Leone government was able to successfully crush the rebels.

• Having turned the tide, British troops remained to train and advise Sierra Leone's armed forces and, in 2001, the RUF agreed to disarm.

• In 2003, as a result of international pressure and condemnation, Taylor stood down as president and went into exile. In 2006, the UN's Special Court for Sierra Leone charged Taylor with 11 counts of war crimes and he was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Afghanistan 2001-21

• Although Western intervention in Afghanistan after 9/11 was primarily launched to eliminate the terrorist threat from al-Qaeda, it also had a humanitarian dimension. There had been international condemnation of the Taliban's brutal rule and the west wanted to establish the conditions for a liberal democracy in Afghanistan to make the world safer from terrorism, end the violation of female rights and create a more tolerant and inclusive society.

• Fundamental Islamism, especially in the majority Pashtun areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan, was also far more resonant in local conditions than liberal attempts to encourage gender equality and human rights.

• It was extremely difficult for Western forces to understand the significance of ethnic, tribal and family alliances and tensions. This undermined attempts to build trust within communities.

• In August 2021, the abject failure of intervention was demonstrated when the Taliban entered Kabul as Western embassies and the airport were besieged by desperate Afghans terrified of what might happen to them under the Taliban. Such scenes, so reminiscent of the fall of Saigon in 1975, could hardly have provided a worse twenty year commemoration of 9/11.

Iraq 2003-

• Iraq was a liberal intervention designed to stabilise the region and reduce threats to the international community. By overthrowing Saddam Hussein and replacing his brutal dictatorship with a liberal democracy, regional and global stability would be encouraged, and the Iraqis' human rights would be protected.

• Unfortunately, although Saddam Hussein was quickly overthrown, almost no attention was paid to post-war reconstruction.

• President George W. Bush himself told his National Security Council that, 'we don't do police work'. This would not only save money, lives and resources but would prevent accusations of American imperialism.

• In consequence, chaos quickly ensued. By disbanding the Iraqi army and dismissing the government and civil service, the US encouraged the disintegration of law and order.

• Sunni Muslims, whose interests had been most closely associated with Saddam, launched an insurgency. This, in turn, provoked widespread killing and brutal arrest and interrogation by occupying forces, who were too few to provide real security and yet numerous enough to exacerbate anti-Western hatred. The subsequent spread and horrifying brutality of ISIL was a direct result of this failure to achieve nation-building in post-war Iraq.

• In spite of the liberation of Iraqi territory from ISIL in 2019, by 2021 there were still almost two million internally displaced Iraqis. A ISIL suicide bomb attack in Baghdad in January 2021 which killed 32 people shows just how much progress Iraq still needs to make towards a lasting peace.

Côte d’Ivoire 2021

• In 2011, President Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire refused to accept defeat in the general election. This provoked a political crisis, which pushed the country towards civil war.

• The UNSC mandated the destruction of Gbagbo's military capability and France, the former colonial power, militarily intervened with both air and ground forces.

• Clear legitimacy of intervention since UN observers were unequivocal that Gbagbo had lost the election.

• Furthermore, as with Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire is relatively compact and, being on the west coast of Africa, was readily accessible to French intervention. Gbagbo's remaining supporters were mostly armed gangs whose only loyalty was to the president. When Gbagbo was arrested and the legitimate government took office, favourable conditions for peace and stability were created.

Libya 2011

• In 2011, an uprising against the regime of President Gaddafi broke out in Libya. Civil war quickly ensued and, as government troops moved on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Gaddafi announced on radio: 'We are coming tonight. There won't be any mercy.'

• As the bloodshed increased, UN Security Resolutions 1970 and 1973 authorised that 'all necessary measures' be taken to protect Libyan civilians.

• NATO took on responsibility for enforcing these resolutions and focused on destroying Gaddafi's air force and artillery.

• Deprived of air support and heavy weapons, Libyan government forces were pushed back. Gaddafi was killed and the Libyan National Transitional Council took control of the country.

• Although UN believed that Libyans could now control their own destiny without any further outside involvement, in reality the country was a mess of competing ethnic and clan rivalries, previously held together by Gaddafi's brute force. Lacking any history of liberal democracy, centralised government broke down, as armed gangs seized control of large parts of the country and terrorists extended their influence in the power vacuum.

• In 2020, with France and Russia backing the self-proclaimed General Khalifa Hafta's Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) against the Turkish-supported Government of National Accord (GNA) it became even clearer just how unstable and ungovernable Libya had become as a result of military intervention.

• According to Human Rights Watch both the LAAF and the GNA have been responsible for appalling human rights abuses.

Darfur 2007-21

• Darfur, western Sudan, has a black Muslim population that claims independence from Sudan. As separatist demands grew, the government sent in Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, who pillaged and murdered throughout the region.

• As early as 2004, there were claimsthat this systematic policy of violence against Darfuris amounted to 'genocide', but the UNSC dithered over whether the atrocities amounted to 'genocide' or 'war crimes’. China, in particular, was wary of condemning Sudan for genocide, since it had significant economic interest in the country.

• It is estimated that 300,000 people have died during the conflict and 2.5 million have been made homeless.

• Eventually, in 2007, when most of the killing had already taken place, Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, agreed to allow a UN/AU peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) into Darfur. At its peak, UNAMID had 24,000 personnel in the field, but Darfur's size, remoteness and lack of basic infrastructure made its work extremely difficult.

• The UN also had to balance respect for Sudan's sovereignty with its commitment to protecting Darfuris from government-backed militias. However, the presence of UNAMID did provide more security than there would otherwise have been, especially in its protection of refugee camps. As UNAMID prepared to leave in 2021, many Darfuris were fearful that their security would now be in the hands of the Sudanese government.