Pressures to cancel UNGA debate “are unsuccessful”

BELGRADE UN General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic says pressures to give up on a debate on the work of international criminal tribunals have not been successful. “It is no secret that strong pressure has been exerted in the past month from certain centers of power to give up on the public debate. Such pressures did not give results, which announced participation of large numbers of member states and respectable individuals shows,” he told daily Vecernje novosti. Pressures to cancel UNGA debate “are unsuccessful” Jeremic added that some NGO activists had succumbed to the pressure but that it “speaks mostly of a shifty strength of their convictions and level of independence”. He said that a fact that the Hague Tribunal president would not take part in the UNGA debate was “scandalous”. The UNGA president says he had decided not to participate in the debate “out of fear that numerous unpleasant questions could asked regarding inexplicable length of custody for certain suspects, unsuccessful witness protection program, controversial testimonies of former Tribunal officials.” The public debate will be held on April 10. “I believe that the future of the international criminal judiciary is too important to give up on the debate just because some people would be uncomfortable to hear criticism,” Jeremic stressed. He reiterated that a direct reason the debate was called had been “shocking” acquittals of war crimes committed in the Operation Storm, adding that the Hague Tribunal “brought the purpose of its existence to a paradox”. “Even though its basic job was to determine individual culprits of crimes, it did not see fit to call for responsibility of those responsible for the expulsion of a quarter of a million people from their homes, which nobody, not even the Tribunal, disputes,” he stressed. “By failing to punish those responsible for war crimes, there is a risk of transferring a collective guilt to entire peoples which has devastating consequences on the reconciliation process,” the UNGA president said. “A fact that the Hague Tribunal has lost its moral credibility thanks to such decisions should not discourage us. The debate we are organizing should serve as an encouragement to the permanent International Criminal Court not to repeat the mistakes of the Hague Tribunal,” Jeremic said. He noted he was convinced that a permanent reconciliation could be based “only on truth and fair determination of guilt and responsibility for wrongdoings”. Jeremic pointed out that everything that would be said at the debate would be filed as an official UN document that would be forwarded to all member states. Vuk Jeremic (Beta, file) Beta Vecernje novosti

Pressures to cancel UNGA debate “are unsuccessful”

Jeremić added that some NGO activists had succumbed to the pressure but that it “speaks mostly of a shifty strength of their convictions and level of independence”.

He said that a fact that the Hague Tribunal president would not take part in the UNGA debate was “scandalous”. The UNGA president says he had decided not to participate in the debate “out of fear that numerous unpleasant questions could asked regarding inexplicable length of custody for certain suspects, unsuccessful witness protection program, controversial testimonies of former Tribunal officials.”

The public debate will be held on April 10.

“I believe that the future of the international criminal judiciary is too important to give up on the debate just because some people would be uncomfortable to hear criticism,” Jeremić stressed.

He reiterated that a direct reason the debate was called had been “shocking” acquittals of war crimes committed in the Operation Storm, adding that the Hague Tribunal “brought the purpose of its existence to a paradox”.

“Even though its basic job was to determine individual culprits of crimes, it did not see fit to call for responsibility of those responsible for the expulsion of a quarter of a million people from their homes, which nobody, not even the Tribunal, disputes,” he stressed.

“By failing to punish those responsible for war crimes, there is a risk of transferring a collective guilt to entire peoples which has devastating consequences on the reconciliation process,” the UNGA president said.

“A fact that the Hague Tribunal has lost its moral credibility thanks to such decisions should not discourage us. The debate we are organizing should serve as an encouragement to the permanent International Criminal Court not to repeat the mistakes of the Hague Tribunal,” Jeremić said.

He noted he was convinced that a permanent reconciliation could be based “only on truth and fair determination of guilt and responsibility for wrongdoings”.

Jeremić pointed out that everything that would be said at the debate would be filed as an official UN document that would be forwarded to all member states.