The Prague Post Online: News: International court for war crimes gets snubbed by Czechs

October 12th, 2008

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International court for war crimes gets snubbed by Czechs

Failure to ratify is an 'embarrassment,' says human rights advocate

By Hilda Hoy
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 18th, 2007 issue

As preparations for the Czech Republic’s upcoming European Union presidency gain steam, the government is under mounting pressure to settle its differences and finally ratify the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Supporting the court, which tries war crimes and crimes against humanity if the home country of the accused refuses to do so, is considered part of the EU’s common foreign policy. The Czech Republic, however, continues to be the only EU member not to get on board.

This is creating an “embarrassment” for the country, especially as it prepares to take over the rotating EU presidency in January 2009, said Jan Kratochvíl of the Czech League of Human Rights (LLP). The group recently joined forces with Amnesty International and two other local human rights groups to call on the government to change its stance.

“[The Czech Republic] has a long history of supporting international criminal justice … and the protection of human rights,” Kratochvíl said. Not supporting the ICC, which he calls “the primary international instrument for suppressing gross human rights violations,” renders Czech foreign policy “inconsistent and contradictory,” he said.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek is feeling the pressure. Last month, he told the Chamber of Deputies it would be “intolerable” for the Czech Republic to take over the EU helm without first ratifying the Rome Statute, the agreement that formed the ICC. By ratifying the statute, a state in effect becomes a member of the ICC.

There is no reason for deputies to reject the statute, Topolánek said. The Chamber is expected to begin debating the issue anew in the coming months.

A ‘provincial’ mindset

Topolánek faces an uphill battle. The first Czech attempt to ratify the Rome Statute in 2001 failed, and opposition is still strong. Opponents then and now argue that participating would take away from Czech sovereignty: forcing the government to extradite its citizens abroad and violating constitutionally guaranteed immunity for certain lawmakers.

“We tend to pretend that our justice system is fairer than others, [so] we see it as a big problem to extradite our citizens to be judged outside the Czech Republic,” explained Cyril Svoboda, chairman of the Legislative Council of the Government and a deputy for the Christian Democratic Union (KDU-ČSL).

“The deputies refused to approve the amendment [in 2001] because they thought the Czech Republic would not be able to protect its citizens properly” if it were beholden to the ICC, he said.

But this stance reeks of “provincialism,” he said. “I personally think all these fears are groundless.”

“The ICC can charge people only if their home country does not do so. It is complete nonsense to say our citizens could be sent to The Hague before they face trial in the Czech Republic,” Svoboda added.

Kratochvíl of the LLP agrees that misinformation is a key problem among politicians. “We believe there are many misunderstandings about the powers and functions of the ICC and consequently some of the opposition arises from a lack of information,” he said.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry, the arm of the government that works most closely with the EU on such issues, is trying to fight that tide. On May 23–24, the ministry will be hosting a conference in Prague “to discuss and inform about the importance of ICC charter approval,” spokesman Jiří Beneš said.

“Approval of the ICC charter is one of the priorities of the government and we think [this conference] would be one of the steps to reach this goal,” Beneš said.

Among the invitees are ICC President Philippe Kirsch and Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Czech media have reported the two will attend to convince the government to get on board. But Sonia Robla, public information officer at the ICC, was tight-lipped on the court’s stance toward the issue.

“Both the president and the chief prosecutor have been invited … to explore the role of the court, its jurisdictions and the activities we have going on [at the ICC],” she said. “It has nothing to do with any political issues.”

And though the ICC is “really happy and pleased” at the Czech initiative to plan the conference, it’s not confirmed whether Kirsch and Moreno-Ocampo will attend, she added.

“We have the invitation only. … Their attendance will depend on [the conference’s] agenda,” Robla said.

The Czech Republic isn’t the only country to reject the court’s authority. Other nations including China, Israel, Russia and the United States have also done so.

The court is currently investigating crimes committed in Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

— Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Hilda Hoy can be reached at hhoy@praguepost.com

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