His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal Calls for the International Criminal Justice System to Play an Active Role in Resolving Middle East Conflicts

(Siracusa, September 4, 2014). His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince El Hassan bin Talal has called for the international justice community to play a more active role in helping resolve conflicts in the Middle East.

Delivering the keynote at a high level meeting of experts on Global Issues and Their Impact on the Future of Human Rights and International Criminal Justice in Siracusa, HRH delved into specifics on rulings delivered by international bodies such as the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice. Examples included the targeting of civilians prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention, Resolution 242 that prohibits the building of settlements on occupied land, and Articles 2 and 39 of the UN Charter that vest the Security Council as the only organisation able to rule on the legality of war.

“When we devote reels upon reels of newsprint and hours upon hours of television time to discussing conflicts such as Iraq and Gaza, how do we not even spend a few minutes discussing the illegality of the actions, and the layers of historic illegality that provide their context?” HRH said.

HRH also outlined a three step plan for the international criminal justice community to help further long term human security in the Middle East:

1. Prepare for the expected: Build a knowledge base to prepare for the end of conflict in countries like Syria by talking to refugees about pre-conflict access to justice, the non-state justice systems, and the land and property rights systems.

2. Develop transitional justice mechanisms: Recognize that transitional justice is fraught with risk of escalating violence due to unresolved grievances. In this context, it is necessary to make decisions based on hard evidence, develop a clear and frank assessment of institutional capacity, and find solutions that incorporate an authentic regional voice.

3. Look beyond major international crimes: Focus not just on the international crimes against humanity, but also on the day to day like corruption, lack of access to justice and lack of access to basic human rights such as education, health and water. These crimes do not have high visibility, but as witnessed in the Arab Spring, are often precursors to major conflict.

Ultimately, HRH said that the international criminal justice system needed to focus on furthering human dignity. He pointed out that despite its limitations in being able to mete out punishment as is the case in domestic justice mechanisms, international criminal justice has worked by creating a culture of communication based on a common language of shared understanding. This language has evolved not based on a narrow legal interpretation of human rights, but rather through a broader commitment to humanitarian rights.

HRH called for a renewed humanitarian focus and for the scope of international law to be broadened to include a Law of Peace, which would contain a set of laws directly related to human welfare.

“We spend a lot of our time and resources in discussing how to wage war,” HRH said. “Now, more than ever, we need to talk about how we are going to wage peace.”