INT’L COURT JUDGE VOICES CONCERN OVER GUJARAT

Justice Navanethem Pillay, judge at the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has expresseded concern at the evidence of state complicity in the Gujarat violence of 2002.

Delivering a lecture on ‘State accountability for crimes against humanity and genocide’ at Jamia Millia Islamia in the Capital on October 29 evening, she said in reply to a question that the ICC could not do anything in the matter as India is not a signatory to the Rome Statute of ICC although it had accepted the Genocide Convention of 1959 and given support to several other human rights treaties. The jurisdiction and functioning of the ICC are governed by the Rome Statute.

“A troubling factor, noted by international observers after the Gujarat massacre, is evidence of state complicity in atrocities committed there,” Justice Pillay noted.

She stated, “Victims of civilian massacres in areas such as the Sikh riots in 1984, Mumbai riots in 1992 and the Gujarat riots in 2002 are still seeking justice and complain of failure by the state to provide adequate legal mechanisms and resources to render justice.”

Talking about the Rome Statute, she said, “I would be surprised if India does not share the commitment of 104 states party to the Rome Statute, to end impunity for the grave crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

She, however, pointed out that India has developed a rich jurisprudence in the provision of remedies for human rights violations, often respected as precedents by other national jurisdictions.

“The level of attention given to individual human rights violations needs to be extended to mass violations and mass crimes involving state and non-state actors,” she suggested.

Referring to the Indian National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice Pillay raised the issue of restriction of its jurisdiction over the armed forces. “One reads of complaints of failure in accountability for large scale human rights violations by state agents, such as alleged atrocities committed by armed forces in Punjab, Kashmir and northeast India. Critics point to the fact that impunity granted to these forces in the form of policies and legislations impede the inquisitorial powers of statutory independent bodies particularly the NHRC,” she stated.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, she said, “Peace will not come out of a clash of arms but out of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds.”