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Establishing a Syrian War Crimes Tribunal? Joint Hearing

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ESTABLISHING A SYRIAN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL? JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 30, 2013 Serial No. 113–110 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 85–316PDF WASHINGTON : 2014 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Mar 06, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\_AGH\131030\85316 HFA PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa STEVE CHABOT, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California JOE WILSON, South Carolina GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey TED POE, Texas GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia MATT SALMON, Arizona THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts MO BROOKS, Alabama DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island TOM COTTON, Arkansas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida PAUL COOK, California JUAN VARGAS, California GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania AMI BERA, California STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California RON DESANTIS, Florida GRACE MENG, New York TREY RADEL, Florida LOIS FRANKEL, Florida DOUG COLLINS, Georgia TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas TED S. YOHO, Florida LUKE MESSER, Indiana AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Mar 06, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\131030\85316 HFA PsN: SHIRL SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania KAREN BASS, California RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman STEVE CHABOT, Ohio THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BRIAN HIGGINS, New York TOM COTTON, Arkansas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida RON DESANTIS, Florida JUAN VARGAS, California TREY RADEL, Florida BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois DOUG COLLINS, Georgia JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina GRACE MENG, New York TED S. YOHO, Florida LOIS FRANKEL, Florida LUKE MESSER, Indiana (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Mar 06, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\131030\85316 HFA PsN: SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Mar 06, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\131030\85316 HFA PsN: SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES The Honorable Jeremy Rabkin, professor of law, George Mason University School of Law ........................................................................................................ 8 Mr. David M. Crane, professor of practice, Syracuse University College of Law (former chief prosecutor, United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone) .................................................................................................................... 16 Alan White, Ph.D., president, AW Associates (former chief investigator, United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone) ............................................... 32 The Honorable Stephen G. Rademaker, national security project advisor, Bi- partisan Policy Center ......................................................................................... 47 Mr. Richard Dicker, director, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch .................................................................................................................... 58 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Jeremy Rabkin: Prepared statement ........................................... 11 Mr. David M. Crane: Prepared statement ............................................................. 19 Alan White, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ................................................................ 37 The Honorable Stephen G. Rademaker: Prepared statement .............................. 51 Mr. Richard Dicker: Prepared statement .............................................................. 60 APPENDIX Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 92 Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 93 The Honorable Mark Meadows, a Representative in Congress from the State of North Carolina: Prepared statement .............................................................. 94 The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations: Statement of Mr. Michael A. Newton, Professor of the Practice of Law, Vanderbilt University Law School ......................................................................................... 95 (V) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Mar 06, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\131030\85316 HFA PsN: SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Mar 06, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\131030\85316 HFA PsN: SHIRL ESTABLISHING A SYRIAN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL? WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2013 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The committees met, pursuant to notice, at 1:30 p.m., in room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. SMITH. The subcommittees will come to order, and good afternoon, everybody. The 2-year-old Syrian Civil War has produced increasingly hor- rific human rights violations, including summary executions, tor- ture, and rape. Most recently, both government and rebel forces have targeted the medical and humanitarian aid personnel. Snip- ers—and I read this and I was sickened by it—are reportedly tar- geting pregnant women and children, and actually passing around cigarettes when they kill an unborn child who was put into their sights. Since the Syrian Civil War began, more than 100,000 people have been killed, and nearly 7 million people have been forced to leave their homes. By December of this year, it is estimated that neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq could see as many as 3.5 million Syrian refugees. Those who have perpetrated human rights violations among the Syrian Government, the rebels, and the foreign fighters on both sides of this conflict, must be shown that their actions will have se- rious consequences. H. Con. Res. 51, introduced on September 9, calls for the creation of an international tribunal that would be more flexible and more efficient than the International Criminal Court to ensure account- ability for human rights violations committed by all sides and by more people. This hearing will examine the diplomatic, political, legal, and logistical issues necessary for the establishment of such a court. Today’s hearing will examine the controversial issues such as sovereignty, the ICC versus ad hoc regional tribunals, and the sponsorship of such a tribunal. Perhaps the most famous war crimes tribunals were the Nurem- berg and Tokyo trials—the post-World War II trials of Axis mili- (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Mar 06, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\131030\85316 HFA PsN: SHIRL 2 tary officers and government functionaries responsible for almost unimaginable crimes against humanity. The Cold War rivalry be- tween the U.S. and the former Soviet Union prevented the inter- national cooperation necessary for war crimes tribunals to be con- vened by the U.N. After the end of that international political conflict, there have been three particularly notable international tribunals to hold ac- countable those guilty of genocide or crimes against humanity, in the former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda, and in Sierra Leone. Each of these tribunals have achieved a level of success that has escaped the International Criminal Court. The Yugoslavia tribunal, for example, has won 69 convictions, the Rwanda tribunal has won 47, and the Sierra Leone tribunal has won 16 convictions. Mean- while, the ICC, costing about $140 million annually, has thus far seen only one conviction. The ICC process is distant and has no local ownership of its jus- tice process. It is less flexible than an ad hoc tribunal, which
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