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Belgium’s War Crimes Statute: A Postmortem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Steven R. Ratner
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Editorial Comments
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American Journal of International Law , Volume 97 , Issue 4 , October 2003 , pp. 888 - 897
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Copyright © American Society of International Law 2003

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References

Page no 897 note * I am most grateful to Christine Van den Wyngaert for enlightening me on aspects of the history of the Belgian statute and Belgian criminal procedure. I also appreciate comments from Pierre Klein, Michael Reisman, and David Wippman.

Page no 888 note * Thanks to Mary Ellen O'Connell for helpful comments. Remaining errors are my own.

1 Belgium: Univermljurisdiclinn Law Repealed, HUM. RTS. NEWS (Aug. 1,2003), at <http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/08/belgium080103.htm&ngos> (statement of six NGOs that “Belgium has now forgotten the victims to whom it gave a hope of justice. “)

2 Loi du 16juin 1993 relative a la repression des infractions graves aux Conventions Internationales de Geneve du 12 aout 1949 et aux Protocoles I et II du 8juin 1977, additionnels a ces Conventions, June 16,1993, Monitevjr Belge [M.B.], Aug. 5, 1993.

3 See, e.g., Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Aug. 12,1949, Art. 129, 75 UNTS 135, 236, 6 UST 3316.

4 Loi relative a la repression des violations graves de droit international humanitaire, Feb. 10,1999, M.B., Mar. 23, 1999.

5 Id., Art. 5.

6 See Steven R. Ratnf.R & Jason S. Abrams, Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International L\w: Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy 178-82 (2ded. 2001).

7 Code De Procedure Penale, Art. 63; see also Christine Van den Wyngaert, Belgium, in Criminal Procedure Systems In The European Community 1,16-18 (Christine Van den Wyngaert et al. eds., 1993).

8 Proposition de Loi, BELG. PARL. DOC. 50 1568/001 (Dec. 18, 2001), available at <http://wwwl.dekamer.be/FLWB/pdf/50/1568/50K1568001,pdf>.

9 Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Belg.), 2002 ICJ REP. 121 (Feb. 14), available at <http://www.icj-cij.org> [hereinafter Arrest Warrant].

10 (1 H.S.A. et al. v. S.A., Cass. 2e civ., Feb. 12, 2003, No. P.02.1139.F, translated in 42 ILM 596 (2003).

11 US Chides Belgium over Rights Law, BBC News, Mar. 19,2003, available at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2863273.stm>. Said Powell: “We have cautioned our Belgian colleagues that… this kind of legislation … makes it hard for us to go to places, it puts you at such easy risk.” See also Sean D. Murphy, Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law, 97 AJIL 962 (2003).

12 Loi modifiant la loi du 1 6juin 1993 relative a la repression des violations graves du droit international humanitaire et Particle 144ter du Code judiciaire, Apr. 23, 2003, M.B., May 7, 2003, translated in 42 ILM 749 (2003).

13 News Transcript. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld at NATO Headquarters, DEFENSEL/AK (June 12, 2003), available at <http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030612secder0217l.html>.

14 Projet de loi relative aux violations graves du droit humanitaire, July 23, 2003, BELG. PARL. Doc. 51 0103/001, available at <http://wwwl.dekamer.be/FLVvTi/pdf/51/0103/51K0103001.pdf >(author's translation).

15 Loi relative aux violations graves du droit humanitaire, Aug. 5, 2003, M.B., Aug. 7, 2003, arts. 14-16 [hereinafter August 5 law]; see also House Justice Committee Report, BELG. PARL. Doc. 51 0103/003, at 4-5 (2003), available at <http://wwwl.dekamer.be/FLVvTi/pdf/51/0103/51K0103003.pdf <[hereinafterJustice Committee Report].

16 August 5 law, supra note 15, Art. 13.

17 Id., Art. 29. SeealsoLuc Reydams, Belgium Reneges on Universality: the 5 August 2003 Act on Grave Breaches of International Humanitarian Laxo, 1 J. INT'L. CRIM. L. (forthcoming 2003).

18 This final possibility arises from ajuly 2001 amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure. Seeho\ portant modification de I'article \2bis de la loi du 17 avril 1878 contenant le Titre preliminaire du Code de procedure penale, July 18, 2001, M.B., Sept. 1,2001. Article 18 of the August 2003 law amended the 2001 law to include obligations under customary international law, though the government does not appear to regard this addition as a significant loophole. See Justice Committee Report, supra note 15, at 8-9. These cases also require the action of the public prosecutor.

19 Marlise Simons, An Awful Task: Assessing 4 Roles in Death of Thousands, N.Y. Times, Apr. 30, 2001, at A3.

20 Henry A. Kissinger, The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction, FOR. AFF., July/ Aug. 2001, at 86, 90-92.

21 Arrest Warrant, supra note 9, Separate Joint Opinion of Judges Higgins, Kooijmans and Buergenthal, para. 59. With regard to immunity in particular, see id., paras. 74-79.

22 See Princeton Project On Universal jurisdiction, The Princeton Principles On Universal jurisdiction, princ. 8 (2001), available at <http://www.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/princeton.html>.

23 See Steven R. Ratner, The International Criminal Court and the Limits of GlobalJudicialization, 38 Tex. Int'l L.J. 445 (2003). I hasten to add that individual criminal responsibility creates these tensions. In that sense, the U.S. Alien Tort Statute avoids many of the shortcomings of the Belgian law, and my critique of the latter is not an argument for restricting the scope of the former.

24 For a discussion, see Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Steven R. Ratner, & David Wlppman, International Law: Norms, Actors, Process 15-21 (2002).

25 See generally Antony Anghie & B. S. Chimni, Third World Approaches to International Law and Individual Responsibility in Internal Conflict, in The Methods Of International Law (Steven R. Ratner & Anne-Marie Slaughter eds., forthcoming 2004). 26 The Spanish Tribunal Supremo recently rejected a case against former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on this ground. SeeSTS, May 20,2003 (SentenciaNo. 712/2003), available at <http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/peru/doc/tsperu.html>.

27 Arrest Warrant, supra note 9, paras. 51-61.

28 States may, of course, have duties to extradite or prosecute those on their territory accused of specific crimes. These duties under certain treaties, and perhaps custom as well, will limit the ability of states to turn down cases according to the preceding factors.

29 See Arrest Warrant, supra note 9, Dissenting Opinion of Judge ad hoc Van den Wyngaert, para. 3 (distinguishing between legality of Belgian actions and their wisdom).

30 See BELG. CONST. Art. 151 (on independence of public prosecutor).