Readying for when Darfur victims get day in court
psted by Alrabae adam Ezaldeen
LONDON: Amid rising international horror at the bloodshed in Darfur, Sudanese lawyers are anticipating the day when victims of mass rape and torture could face the alleged perpetrators in tribunals like the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The court issued arrest warrants in April for two Sudanese men who are charged with planning and participating in alleged war crimes related to the unrest in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and more than two million have been displaced by fighting between government-backed forces and rebels.
Sudan, dismissing the charges as politically motivated, has refused to turn over the suspects, one of whom, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, is Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister.
But participants in an unusual training program in London this week that brought together Sudanese lawyers and American and European legal experts, called on the International Criminal Court, the ICC, to step up its activities, saying it could provide hope to Sudanese people who no longer trust their government or its legal system to deliver justice.
"The situation in Darfur is absolutely appalling," said Hyat Musa Suliman, a lawyer and human rights advocate who counsels rape victims and others in refugee camps in northern Darfur. Speaking through an interpreter, she added, "I hope the procedures and trials of the ICC will bring back the confidence of the people in the justice system."
She is one of nine Sudanese lawyers who have traveled to London to take part in the weeklong training program, organized by the litigation section of the American Bar Association. Experts from the association, from nongovernmental organizations and from the International Criminal Court itself are explaining the complexities of the court.
Brad Brian, a Los Angeles lawyer who organized the course for the bar association, said the assistance was needed because the Sudanese had little experience with international legal affairs, let alone war crimes trials, which can be long and messy. In one of the highest-profile cases in international courts, Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, died last year, before his four-year trial could be concluded.
Brian said the program was the first of its kind for the bar association, showing the extent to which concern about the situation in Darfur has permeated American society, even though the United States, like Sudan, has not joined the International Criminal Court.
"In war crimes cases, it's important to give victims a voice," said Brian, a partner at the firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles.
Brian's involvement began in 2005, when he met Salih Mahmoud Osman, a Sudanese lawyer and human rights advocate. Brian's teenage daughter, Leslie, had taken an interest in Darfur, and went to hear Osman speak in Pasadena, California, where the Brians live.
Brian invited Osman to lunch, and asked him whether there was anything the bar association could do to help. The training program, financed largely with a $183,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation, was the result.
The faculty for the program consists of 13 legal professionals, including Terree Bowers, a former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles who worked with the prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s; JoAnne Epps, a law professor and associate dean for academic affairs at Temple University; and a federal judge, Bernice Donald, of the U.S. District Court in western Tennessee.
The group has brought in outside speakers like Paolina Massidda, principal counsel in the office of public counsel for victims at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Massidda explained some of the nuances of that tribunal, noting that victims of crimes typically are allowed greater participation there than in other courts, where they often are permitted only to appear as witnesses. At the international court, victims can call for experts, witnesses or evidence, and can question the accused.
That means the Sudanese lawyers could play a significant role if Darfur-related cases make their way to The Hague, Brian said. While they are unlikely to serve as prosecutors at the court, they might represent victims of alleged crimes during any proceedings.
The Sudanese lawyers might also be called on to make the case for the International Criminal Court to hear any cases in the first place. One prerequisite for the court to take on a case is that national courts must be ruled out as a suitable venue first.
Osman said that in Sudan, this is all but obvious. He said he had been detained three times by Sudanese security forces, including once, in 2004, when he was held for seven months without charges, for working on behalf of victims of government persecution.
LONDON: Amid rising international horror at the bloodshed in Darfur, Sudanese lawyers are anticipating the day when victims of mass rape and torture could face the alleged perpetrators in tribunals like the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The court issued arrest warrants in April for two Sudanese men who are charged with planning and participating in alleged war crimes related to the unrest in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and more than two million have been displaced by fighting between government-backed forces and rebels.
Sudan, dismissing the charges as politically motivated, has refused to turn over the suspects, one of whom, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, is Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister.
But participants in an unusual training program in London this week that brought together Sudanese lawyers and American and European legal experts, called on the International Criminal Court, the ICC, to step up its activities, saying it could provide hope to Sudanese people who no longer trust their government or its legal system to deliver justice.
"The situation in Darfur is absolutely appalling," said Hyat Musa Suliman, a lawyer and human rights advocate who counsels rape victims and others in refugee camps in northern Darfur. Speaking through an interpreter, she added, "I hope the procedures and trials of the ICC will bring back the confidence of the people in the justice system."
She is one of nine Sudanese lawyers who have traveled to London to take part in the weeklong training program, organized by the litigation section of the American Bar Association. Experts from the association, from nongovernmental organizations and from the International Criminal Court itself are explaining the complexities of the court.
Brad Brian, a Los Angeles lawyer who organized the course for the bar association, said the assistance was needed because the Sudanese had little experience with international legal affairs, let alone war crimes trials, which can be long and messy. In one of the highest-profile cases in international courts, Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, died last year, before his four-year trial could be concluded.
Brian said the program was the first of its kind for the bar association, showing the extent to which concern about the situation in Darfur has permeated American society, even though the United States, like Sudan, has not joined the International Criminal Court.
"In war crimes cases, it's important to give victims a voice," said Brian, a partner at the firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles.
Brian's involvement began in 2005, when he met Salih Mahmoud Osman, a Sudanese lawyer and human rights advocate. Brian's teenage daughter, Leslie, had taken an interest in Darfur, and went to hear Osman speak in Pasadena, California, where the Brians live.
Brian invited Osman to lunch, and asked him whether there was anything the bar association could do to help. The training program, financed largely with a $183,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation, was the result.
The faculty for the program consists of 13 legal professionals, including Terree Bowers, a former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles who worked with the prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s; JoAnne Epps, a law professor and associate dean for academic affairs at Temple University; and a federal judge, Bernice Donald, of the U.S. District Court in western Tennessee.
The group has brought in outside speakers like Paolina Massidda, principal counsel in the office of public counsel for victims at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Massidda explained some of the nuances of that tribunal, noting that victims of crimes typically are allowed greater participation there than in other courts, where they often are permitted only to appear as witnesses. At the international court, victims can call for experts, witnesses or evidence, and can question the accused.
That means the Sudanese lawyers could play a significant role if Darfur-related cases make their way to The Hague, Brian said. While they are unlikely to serve as prosecutors at the court, they might represent victims of alleged crimes during any proceedings.
The Sudanese lawyers might also be called on to make the case for the International Criminal Court to hear any cases in the first place. One prerequisite for the court to take on a case is that national courts must be ruled out as a suitable venue first.
Osman said that in Sudan, this is all but obvious. He said he had been detained three times by Sudanese security forces, including once, in 2004, when he was held for seven months without charges, for working on behalf of victims of government persecution.
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