Timbuktu & international criminal law

(credit for July 1, 2012, image)

'The crimes of the rebels in Timbuktu mirror those of the Taliban in 2001, when it declared that the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan were idolatrous and destroyed them. The field of international criminal law has matured significantly since then, following the establishment of the I.C.C. and the attainment of various jurisprudential milestones through the decisions of the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. It is now necessary to use these legal tools to hold the Ansar Dine, both as a group and as individuals, accountable for the destruction of property belonging to the universal heritage of humanity.'

So write Guled Yusuf, associate at Clifford Chance in London, and Lucas Bento, an associate at Quinn Emanuel in New York, in "The 'End Times' for Timbuktu?", an op-ed published in today's International Herald Tribune. The authors recount the destruction of cultural heritage under way in the north of Mali – site of turmoil about which we've posted here and here – and compare it to destruction in Afghanistan mentioned in Keina Yoshida's post earlier this week.

(credit for 2006 photo)

Their reference to the International Criminal Court is notable, given that a fortnight ago ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced preliminary examination into Mali, based on a state referral. (Concerns about that referral have been voiced by our colleagues, here and here.)
Earlier, on the 1st of last month – shortly after the onset of destruction of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (right), buildings sacred to one Muslim sect but not another – Bensouda said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (video here):

'Deliberate attacks against undefended civilian buildings which are not military objectives is a war crime. This includes attacks against historical monuments as well as destruction of buildings dedicated to religion. My message to those involved in these criminal acts is clear: Stop the destruction of the religious buildings now. This is a war crime, which my office has authority to fully investigate.'

'Nuff said

(Taking context-optional note of thought-provoking quotes)

'They offer to give the young people a vehicle, a weapon. Someone who was on a donkey's back finds himself with a 4x4. That's how they hoodwink people.'

– Nina Wallet Intalou (left), speaking to Le Monde reporter Isabelle Mandraud. (The translation from French is mine.) Wallet Intalou was interviewed Monday at her home in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital where she and other top leaders of the Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad – the Tuareg independence group that earlier this month declared a northern portion of Mali to be the country of Azawad – live in exile. Wallet Intalou is the only woman on the Mouvement's executive committee – a post she gained only with persistence, as she described in the interview. (credit for Le Monde photo by Laurent Prieur)
Azawad is recognized by no state. (credit for map below, showing disputed area in white) Indeed, it's been denounced not only by Mali but also by Algeria, which it borders and which also has a Tuareg population (see Voice of America map here), and by ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States of which Mali is a member.
Negotiations over the dispute are reported to have begun this week.
As for the quote above, who are the "they" whom Wallet Intalou said are luring youths into combat?
Forces said to be affiliated with Al-Qaida au Maghreb islamique, which, according to Le Monde, has "profited" from the turmoil of the months-long independence rebellion (prior post) by laying claim to Timbuktu and other cities in the newly proclaimed Azawad.

Mali & the ICC

Does Thursday's coup in Mali (map credit) -- not to mention yesterday's rumors of an impending countercoup -- imperil a January agreement in which the seemingly peaceful state became the 1st in Africa to agree to be a place where persons convicted by the International Criminal Court might serve their sentences?
Stay tuned.

On December 22

On this day in ...
... 1986 (25 years ago today), a 5-member Chamber of the International Court of Justice ruled in the case known as Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso/Republic of Mali). The ruling established the border between the 2 West African countries in accordance with the colonial borders, "'inherited from colonization'" (¶ 19), between what had been known as Upper Volta and French Sudan. (map credit) Reinforcing a proviso in the bilateral agreement that had led to the proceedings was the international law principle of uti posseditis juris, which, as the Chamber wrote, "accords pre-eminence to legal title over effective possession as a basis for sovereignty" (¶ 23). Recognizing potential conflict between that principle and the right of peoples to self-determination, the Chamber wrote that "the principle of uti posseditis has kept its place among the most important legal principles ... by deliberate choice that African states selected" (¶¶ 25-26). Two members of the Chamber wrote separate opinions; one, Judge Georges Abi-Saab, would have tempered the uti posseditis pronouncement with greater consideration of "equity infra legem" (¶¶ 13-15).

(Prior December 22 posts are here, here, here, and here.)

On December 25

On this day in ...

... 1985, an ongoing armed conflict in West Africa, sometimes called the Agacher War because it centered in a resource-rich Agacher Strip between Burkina Faso and Mali, intensified when the troops from the latter country attacked a number of border posts and police stations in the former soon after a dispute over the apparently accidental presence of Burkinabe census agents at refugee camps in Mali. Following failed negotiation efforts by Libya, Nigeria, and the Organization of African Unity, a ceasefire was achieved 5 days after the outbreak of what in Burkina Faso became known as the "Christmas War."

(Prior December 25 posts are here and here.)

On November 25

On this day in ...
... 1958, a colony in West Africa known as French Sudan "gained complete internal autonomy" (flag at left). Five months later it would join with Senegal to form the Mali Federation, a fully independent entity within the French Community for a few months in the summer of 1950, until Senegal seceded. Thereafter, in September 1960, "French Sudan proclaimed itself the Republic of Mali and withdrew from the French Community."

(Prior November 25 posts are here and here.)

Look On! "Mrs. Goundo's Daughter"

(Look On! takes occasional note of noteworthy films.) "Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter,” a new documentary by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, is a sensitive and galvanizing account of gender discrimination at the intersection of culture and bureaucracy. (View a clip here.)
The filmmakers follow a mother’s struggle to keep her family from being deported to Mali. The documentary focuses on the serious harm caused by female genital mutilation/cutting practices.
I’ve discussed the complexities in a 1995 article, Between Irua and Female Genital Mutilation: Feminist Human Rights Discourse and the Cultural Divide and in a more recent article on “Female Genital Mutilation and Female Genital Cutting” in the Encyclopedia of Human Rights.
Awaken!, an excellent newsletter published by the women’s human rights NGO Equality Now!, tracks developments on the issue in English, French, and Arabic. IntLawGrrls Fiona de Londras and Jaya Ramji-Nogales posted here and here on human rights and gender asylum decisions involving FGM-FGC. This World Health Organisation Bulletin discusses some grassroots eradication efforts in Mali.
FGM-FGC practices violate international human rights norms and are prohibited under instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, and the Maputo Protocol.
The practices cause serious physical injury and death to infants, girls, and women in practicing regions. Yet because FGM-FGC is deeply rooted in community and family traditions (but not required by any formal religion), the practices remain widespread among some ethnic groups. Many countries now outlaw the practices. But the private circumstances under which they occur mean that indigenous community-based education and organizing are important keys to ending FGM-FGC. (On legal and political approaches, see Anika Rahman & Nahid Toubia, Female Genital Mutilation: A Practical Guide to Worldwide Laws and Policies.)
In the film, Mrs. Goundo, who experienced FGM-FGC as a girl, works with an immigrant community leader in Philadelphia, an asylum lawyer, and her husband to prevent her own daughter from returning to Mali. Goundo understands that even if she and her husband object, grandparents, relatives, or other community members might well force the practice on the child.
But there’s another problem. Mrs. Goundo must request legal status for herself under the byzantine U.S. immigration and asylum laws, or else be separated from her U.S.-born daughter and other family members.
Attie and Goldwater provide a nuanced treatment of her predicament. They place Mrs. Goundo and her family in the context of a supportive immigrant community and explore the challenges of navigating the U.S. legal system successfully. They also travel to Mali, where they interview local women’s rights and health advocates who condemn and educate against the practices. They also surface the stereotypes and misinformation that lead some religious and cultural leaders to support them despite the awful consequences.
"Mrs. Goundo's Daughter" is never graphic, but makes the danger and emotional trauma to girls abundantly clear. Students should be prepared in advance with readings on the subject matter and instructors should plan time for discussion after showing the film.
Consultants on the film included leading refugee and gender-asylum expert Deborah Anker and yours truly. The documentary is an effective way to begin discussions about the complex legal, gender, and cultural issues involved. Heartfelt thanks to research assistant Alexis Smith for her help with this post.

On April 11

On this day in ...
... 1992, in Mali's capital city of Bamako, the Pacte nationale (English summary) was signed with the aim of ending years of fighting between the government of Mali and Tuareg rebels in the northern part of the country. The agreement called for greater democracy in elections and governance, and a subsequent plan called for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR). The U.N. Development Programme has written of this period:

The National Pact initially brought peace. But in this poverty-stricken, drought-afflicted democracy, the newly elected government had no money to finance DDR, and western donors were remarkably unsupportive of the new President. The disappointed Tuareg movements took up arms again, determined to obtain a share of the national pie. Meanwhile, opposition parties refused to accept that they had been beaten in a fair election, bringing students into the streets. By 1994, the fragility of the government was extreme and civil war was a real threat.

... 1689 (320 years ago today), London-born Princess Mary and her Hague-born cousin, William of Orange, were crowned co-rulers of England. This coronation of William III and Mary II (left) followed William's 1688 invasion of the island country and ouster of King James II, Protestant Mary's Catholic father, on invitation of Protestants in Parliament. It's written that "Parliament ... wanted the throne to be the sole possession of Mary, with William serving as Prince Consort, but Mary refused due to her self-imposed subservience to her husband." The couple's reign was marked by armed conflict in Ireland and Flanders and by Mary's delivery of 3 stillborn children, so that on William's death in 1702 Mary's sister became England's Queen Anne.

(Prior April 11 posts are here and here.)

On women playing well

To Jaya's excellent post yesterday on "Olympian Courage," I'd like to add a bit more recognition for women's plays during this Summer Games season.
Here's to:
► Hamchétou Maïga-Ba (left) and all the women hoopsters who represented Mali. These 2008 Beijing Games marked the 1st time a women's basketball team was sent by the country, which the New York Times described as "a predominantly Muslim country where women are subject to traditional subservience, genital mutilation, inequitable access to education and household violence." But the simple feat of fielding a team may have begun to change things. Maïga-Ba, who plays forward for the Women's National Basketball Association's Houston Comets, said of the land of her birth:

'Everybody is proud of us, even the guys.'

► Mona Eltahawy (right), an Egypt-born, New York-based commentator. She published in the Washington Post a stinging op-ed, which criticized Saudi Arabia for not including any women on its Olympic team. The Post then published its own editorial echoing Eltahawy's complaint.
Caveat:
No country deserves to claim too-high ground on the matter of women in the Olympics. The Times article reminds:

Women were not allowed to participate at the 1896 Summer Games in Athens, the first Olympics of the modern era.
They were expected to contribute applause, not athletic skill. Not until 1984 were women permitted to run the Olympic marathon, in reefer-madness fear that they might grow old too soon with such exertion; or worse, they might grow a mustache.
Or their uterus would fall out, as if it were a transmission.

Nineteen women competed in the 1900 Paris Olympics. The art student who took 1st place in the 9-hole golf tournament (above), Margaret Abbott, "is now recognized as the first female American Olympian winner."
Even today, when many women from many countries compete in many events, there's much room for improvement. More than 1 commentator's wondered if women's beach volleyball would get as much air time if its bikini-clad competitors covered up. (To which should be added this question: Would an activity so singly centered in 1 nation even be included in inter-national competition absent the costumes?) Then comes news, from Nayeli Rodriguez at Slate's XX Factor blog, on "the International Table Tennis Federation’s latest strategy for reversing low attendance to its matches": "draw attention to the sexier side of table tennis" by "urging lady players to adjust their competition outfits to flaunt more 'curves.'" (credit for 2007 photo at right of Chinese champion Wang Nan)
Here's hoping one day for an Olympics where attention's focused on how well women played, and not on how well they looked while playing.

Weekend democratic roundup

It’s been a busy week for “democracy” and human rights, and my weekend papers are unusually full of stories of interest. I thought I would offer a small collage, particularly as many of these items touch on issues discussed earlier on this site. I’ll begin with “democracy”, which, as "Grace O’Malley" [IntLawGrrl Diane Marie Amann] noted here , does not simply mean holding democratic elections: the IHT reports that “With the return of democracy, Nepal struggles with big questions”. In particular, how to set up a non-discriminatory, representative democracy. As you may recall, popular revolt in Nepal led to last year’s transfer of power from the King to Parliament and a peace agreement with Maoist rebels, who recently joined the Parliament. Since then, an interim constitution has been put in place and a coalition government, which includes the Maoists, has taken power. To clearly mark the transition, the Nepalese drafted a new national anthem and dropped “Royal” from the name of the Army and the state-owned airline. The government has even promised to start taxing the king’s property. But the major issue and source of frustration is still to be resolved: should Nepal become a federal state that grants autonomy to various ethnic groups and regions? If so, how? Meanwhile in Mali, voters go to the polls today for the first round of presidential elections, while the French study the results of yesterday’s Royal-Bayrou debate, in which Ségolène Royal tried to persuade François Bayrou's supporters to vote for her rather than Nicolas Sarkozy, in the upcoming 2^nd round (see my earlier post). At the same time, the Ligue des droits de l'homme (as well as several of my neighborhood political associations) is calling for a massive turnout in favor of Ségolène Royal. Having said it would not intervene in pre-election debates unless it felt that democracy was in danger, the LDH announced that, given Sarkozy’s agenda, it considers that it is its “duty to warn the citizens”. Clearly, as "Amelia Earhart" [IntLawGrrl Elena Baylis] wrote earlier, there are many ways to run an election: having read LDH's statement, Grace O’Malley asked me if it's typical for NGOs to endorse candidates, noting that IRS nonprofit rules wouldn’t allow such a thing. My (French) husband responded, "where would we be if NGOs couldn’t speak out on such an important issue?

Bittersweet chocolate

Note to every 2-legged Easter Rabbit (sorry, just can't go the PC "Spring Bunny" route) hopping about on last-minute errands: Today's purchase of inordinate amounts of chocolate is an occasion to think about the often bitter way the sweet stuff ends up in our shopping carts.
Was reminded of the "chocolate slavery" of thousands, in countries like Mali and Côte d’Ivoire, in the superb account of contemporary slavery that Dr. Kevin Bales, author of Disposable People and head of the NGO Free the Slaves, delivered at last week's American Society of International Law meeting (more on the panel tomorrow). Bales posited 1 way corporations now turning a blind eye might be held liable: reliance Supreme Court decisions, dating from the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction, that outlawed commercial transactions on proof of a likelihood that slavery was involved. Bales said that a constructive knowledge requirement, coupled with severe sanctions, would put industry on notice that there are consequences for trading in slavery-tainted chocolate -- and other slavery-tainted goods, like carpets.
Industry self-regulation does not seem to have taken hold. In 2001, 2 members of Congress negotiated the Harkin-Engel Protocol, by which industry agreed to end labor abuses and to establish a process for certifying that chocolate was not produced at the hands of children forced to work. "Alas, the chocolate industry has yet to develop certification," trade expert Susan Ariel Aaronson wrote in a recent commentary. But there have been changes in some states -- schools for children and payments to farmers who let children study rather than work, for example, as well as stepped-up enforcement of labor laws, at times with help from the International Labour Organization. Aaronson's conclusion echoed comments that Bales too had made:

Forced child labor and slavery will only stop when companies use their market power to prod their first-tier suppliers, who in turn will force their vendors not to rely on forced labor. But policymakers in the developing and industrialized world have an important role to play here, too. They must develop strategies that address the lack of opportunities, power and education that allow individuals to be enslaved.