Sir, - Speaking of genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda, Emma Bonino, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, stated: "Societies shattered by such nightmares cannot resume more than a semblance of normal life . . . unless the guilty are brought to justice and punished . . . without justice generation after generation is condemned to an existence haunted by the terrors of the past" (November 13th).
An International War Crimes Tribunal was empowered to punish genocide in those countries. Judge Richard Goldstone, former head of the Tribunal, recently condemned the failure of the international community to bring to trial those indicted for war crimes: "If international justice is to used as a cheap commodity only to be discarded when realpolitik so requires, then it would be preferable to abandon justice and leave victims to seek revenge in their own way." (War Report, Tribunal Issue). The latter option is, however, clearly open to horrific abuse and cannot be accepted.
In a Dail reply on October 31st, 1996 in reference to Bosnia the Tanaiste stated that the Council of EU Foreign Ministers had "stressed that full cooperation by all parties with the Tribunal in the effort to bring war criminals to justice is a fundamental obligation which must be honoured if genuine stability and lasting peace is to be consolidated". This accords with the commitment of the Government's White Paper on Foreign Policy to give full support to an effective War Crimes Tribunal.
But verbal commitment is no substitute for action. The failure by national governments and international forces in the region to bring people suspected of some of the most outrageous crimes of this century before the ad hoc tribunals in tantamount to a policy position of non cooperation with the tribunals.
It must now be asked at the end of the Irish Presidency of the EU: "Will the European Union resort to the same verbal placebos that accompanied so much unnecessary genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda? Or will the international community fulfil its previous pledges to punish war criminals?"
If the latter option is chosen Ireland must advocate tough practical measures such as:
1. The handing over of indicted war criminals like Colonel Theoneste Bagosora currently in Cameroon and Mr Karadizc and General Mladic in Bosnia.
2. Strong effective pressure on governments harbouring war criminals.
3.Denial of international visas to anyone sought by the tribunals.
4.Guaranteed military protection for all those cooperating with the Tribunal.
5.Urgent treatment and rehabilitation for traumatised witnesses such as rape victims.
At the end of this century, we must ask if our legacy to the next millennium is that genocide will continue to go unpunished by the international community. Ireland's best contribution in its role as President of the EU could have been to tell the whole truth about massive human rights Violations and to insist that impunity only generates new and terrible cases of genocide - Yours etc
Clinical Psychologist,
Director Trocaire,
Children of
Chernobyl Project,
Fellow and Director of Studies in History, Peterhouse,
Cambridge and Irish Citizen,
Director
Amnesty, Comhlamh Cairde Rwanda,
East Timor Campaign, Ireland Action for Bosnia,
Rape Crisis Centre.