News
For Immediate Release
GJC Challenges ICG Policy on Burma as Dangerous and in Violation of the Law of Nations
The Global Justice Center wrote a letter to the members of the board of the International Crisis Group (the "ICG") urging them to join with other board members to immediately revoke the ICG's longstanding policy of supporting unconditional engagement with Burma's military rulers.
Excerpt:
ICG's Burma policy, encouraging "the West robustly engage the new Myanmar government at the highest levels," ignores both "on the ground facts" and peremptory norms of international law. The ICG fails to acknowledge that "the new Myanmar government" is illegal because it is based on a constitution mandating a bifurcated sovereignty, a fundamental breach of the law of nations. The constitution divides up sovereign powers and guarantees the military complete legal autonomy over all civilian and criminal military affairs. This renders the state of Burma without the legal capacity to enforce any international or domestic laws against the military, including U.N. Security Council Resolutions, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Genocide and Geneva Conventions.
The constitution divides up sovereign powers and guarantees the military complete legal autonomy over all civilian and criminal military affairs. This renders the state of Burma without the legal capacity to enforce any international or domestic laws against the military, including U.N. Security Council Resolutions, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Genocide and Geneva Conventions.
To read the full letter with Appendices, click here.