Subject: International Tribunal
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X-Comment: The Transnational Radical Party List
Let's not curtail the Court of the vanquished
Emma Bonino
ABSTRACT: The Radical Party secretary general criticizes the skepticism
with which the Italian press commented on the establishment of the
international tribunal on the crimes committed in former Yugoslavia.
"What's the point of destroying the only instrument the international
community has been able to set up even before it has become
operative?"..."Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that a feeling of guilt
and helplessness is prevailing over the need to resist barbarity". "No one
explained that while the tribunal will certainly not solve the war or break
the ice that is already gripping Sarajevo, it is nonetheless the first step
in the direction of a possible reinstatement of the legality that has been
lost in these two years". "Branding the tribunal of The Hague with
ineffectiveness makes it impossible to achieve the real objective of the
radical campaign for the institution of an international tribunal on the
former Yugoslavia: the creation of a permanent tribunal to prosecute all
crimes against humanity committed in every part of the world.
(LA STAMPA, November 25th, 1993)
Could it be that the journalists, or rather, the press at large, also feel
guilty about the ongoing tragedy of Bosnia Hercegovina? The question comes
spontaneously on reading the accounts published by the press following the
inauguration in The Hague of the international tribunal for the repression
of the crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. There is widespread
skepticism, ex post indignation and a lot of guilt in these articles. "The
tribunal should punish the crimes of the West", "It's a curtailed
Nrnberg", "It's nothing but a way for the international community to wash
away the guilt of not having stopped the carnage". These were the
prevailing positions in the newspapers. But what is the purpose of
destroying the only instrument the international community has managed to
devise even before it starts functioning? What is the point of branding
with ineffectiveness the first "tribunal of the vanquished" ever set up by
the United Nations, joining the choir of voices that predict that "it will
never be able to function"?
Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that a feeling of guilt and
powerlessness is prevailing over the need to resist barbarity, which is
certainly more difficult to organize after all the mistakes, shortcomings
and complicities of the recent and less recent past. The fact is that the
former Yugoslavia is a mirror in front of which we all feel ashamed: both
those who understood the tragedy in fieri (including our "war envoys") and,
all the more so, those who reserved only conventional expressions of grief
for the massacred bodies. The heaviest responsibilities lie, obviously,
with the Realpoliticians of the West, who banqueted and negotiated with the
criminals while their butchers were killing and raping. No one can shun
their part of guilt. Even less so the media, who are guilty of only
occasionally showing indignation and commitment on the former Yugoslavia,
when it came to magnifying the case of the child Irma, talking about the
dozens of thousands of raped women or showing one of the many "bread
massacres". The media have never assumed instead the demanding task of
giving daily coverage on the lives and death of the people at war, of
defending legality and the rule of law day by day, if necessary kicking the
myth of the event of the day, which, as such, can last only a day.
Perhaps this is why the novelty inherent in the tribunal of The Hague has
never managed to pass through the filter of the media and reach the
readers. No one has told these readers that while the tribunal obviously
cannot solve the war or break the ice which is already gripping Sarajevo,
it is a first step towards the reinstatement of the legality which has been
lost in these years. It is not true that the Tribunal of The Hague cannot
function. It is true instead that it is a juridical instrument that can
function only if it is sustained by a political will. And the widespread
destructive attitude of these days goes to the advantage of the criminals
and of the war lords, not only of the Balkans, because it thwarts any
attempt to bring the problem of coexistence back into the realm of
international legality.
Branding the Tribunal of The Hague with ineffectiveness makes it impossible
to achieve the real objective the radical campaign for the establishment of
an international tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, which is the creation
of a permanent tribunal for the prosecution of all crimes against humanity
committed in every part of the world. We were accused months ago of using
different criteria of judgment by advocating the creation of a tribunal on
the former Yugoslavia and neglecting instead to ask one for Cambodia,
Chile, Salvador. But depriving the judges of the necessary support of the
public opinion and of the governments means undermining the possibility of
obtaining a tribunal for other such tragedies, the ones that go under the
name of Somalia, Burundi and Nagorno Karabach.
