The Global Justice Center conducts a training with the Iraq Tribunal Judges
From November 13-15, 2006 the Global Justice Center conducted a training on international law and gender crimes that was a "first" for the women leaders from Iraq and judges of the Iraq High Tribunal (IHT). This meeting generated frank and open discussions and was characterized both by the high level of debate and by an atmosphere of respect between men and women across ethnic and religious lines.
The Iraqi Judges are enforcing a 2005 war crimes statute, based on international law, which was passed by the new Iraqi parliament. This same statute, which is the basis for the Tribunal's future prosecutions, contains the most progressive definitions of gender crimes in the world, modeled on the ICC. The opportunity for the Tribunal to set precedents for women's rights under international law is a very real one. While the Global Justice Center, like all human rights groups, is opposed to capital punishment, that alone should not be a reason to abandon the Tribunal, or, with it, the quest for accountability of crimes against humanity, including those against the often silenced and long neglected women victims.
A Time of Firsts
The purpose of the conference was to fill the void left by other training sessions in international law that the judges of the IHT have received. Although two other groups have held international law training for the judges since 2003, none of them had addressed women's rights or gender issues in conflict.
Since the Mideast has no regional human rights court, such as in Europe (the European Court of Human Rights), Africa (The African Court of Human and People's Rights) and the Americas (the inter-American Court of Human Rights), the Tribunal decisions will be precendential in the region. The Tribunal will be interpreting cases using the most progressive statutory definitions of gender crimes in the world, identical to those of the Rome Treaty of the ICC, and is positioned to build on the nascent legal precedents that have been established by tribunals in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The body of international law and gender crimes is very new, much of it emerging from the ICTR and the ICTY, and we see this Tribunal as pivotal to advancing a progressive vision for women's rights not only in the Mideast region, but globally.
In addition, we knew that if the Tribunal did not take positive steps toward justice for women in Iraq, the sufferings of these women would have been permanently excluded from the historical record. Just as the ICTY and the ICTR have provided both retributive and restorative justice to the victims of the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda respectively, we knew it was essential to include training on gender provisions for the judges in order to ensure that the psychological healing of women who were harmed under Saddam was a central component of the trials. We seek to continue this work through further conversation with the judges, additional trainings, and in the immediate future, an amicus brief that is currently being drafted by some of the leading experts on these issues in the world.
Why Now?
Political contention over Iraq has resulted in the near complete isolation of this Tribunal from the UN which, by contrast, provided over USD $500 million to the war crimes tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. While those tribunals each employed a full-time gender officer as well as countless other measures to ensure that women took part in the tribunal proceedings, no such measures have been taken in Iraq to ensure gender justice.
A number of the major international human rights organizations have not supported the Tribunal in Iraq, opting instead to criticize the Tribunal's shortcomings. These concerns, which have exploded in recent weeks, include condemnation of the death penalty, doubts about the fairness and legitimacy of the adjudicatory process, as well as a fear that support of the Tribunal may be viewed as implied approval of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. I hope all of the media attention surrounding the Saddam execution does not totally distract from the ongoing need for more trials, accountability and justice. No tribunal is perfect, and the concerns about Iraq, however legitimate, are still outweighed for us by the Tribunal's potential to set persuasive international legal precedents.
It is imperative that the Global Justice Center continue our work advancing the legal rights of women in this and similar projects. Last month, the UNDP launched its 2005 Arab Human Development Report, which focuses on the needs of women in the Middle East, and specifically underscores that women's advancement in the political sphere is absolutely necessary if the Arab world is to successfully combat poverty and promote economic development.
However, paying lip service to these issues is not enough. The report also explained how the enforcement and expansion of legal rights for women, as embodied in human rights statutes, is essential, and that the international community must assist in redressing the historically harsh restrictions on women's rights throughout the region. It is astonishing that these groundbreaking events for Arab women are occurring in a place that is so often ignored. If we turn our back on Iraq now, Iraqi women will be doubly marginalized, doubly victimized and will not receive the assistance or access to justice they need.
Hope for the New Year
As we start the New Year, the quest for "peace on earth," seems more elusive than ever. Issues of war and accountability are ever-present, and in Iraq they once again demonstrate the need for a long-term vision for global justice. The current political debates about Iraq repeatedly go over the same narrow solution: admit defeat, withdraw, Iraqis were never for a "western" democracy, and so on. However, there should be broader possibilities. Whether in Somalia, Nepal, Burma, Sudan, or Iraq, we must start by supporting the brave individuals who are fighting for democracy, and who realize that there is always room to advance the rule of law and gender equality.