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______________________________________________________________________________
US:
New Law Extends Prosecutions for Genocide
(Washington,
DC, December 24, 2007) – The Genocide Accountability Act closes a
loophole by allowing the United States to prosecute individuals for
taking part in genocide abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. President
George W. Bush signed the bill into law on December 21, 2007.
“The
new law will help prevent the United States from becoming a safe haven
for perpetrators of genocide,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director
at Human Rights Watch. “Its adoption sends an important signal of US
commitment to bring to justice those who are responsible for this most
heinous crime.”
The new law supersedes the Genocide Convention Implementation Act, which
allowed for the prosecution of only US citizens for participation in
genocide abroad. Under the new law, introduced by Senator Richard
Durbin, prosecutors can pursue even non-citizens involved in genocide
outside the United States.
The Justice Department is investigating several men suspected of taking
part in genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia who allegedly entered the United
States under false pretenses. However, under the old US law, they could
not be prosecuted for genocide because they are not American citizens
and their alleged crimes were committed outside of the United States.
Under the Genocide Convention, which the US ratified in 1988, genocide
means killings and other serious criminals acts “committed with intent
to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group.”
The Genocide Accountability Act is one of three bills introduced by
Durbin that would give the United States the authority to prosecute
people found in the US who have participated in serious human rights
abuses anywhere in the world. The other bills, the Trafficking in
Persons Accountability Act and the Child Soldiers Accountability Act,
have both been unanimously endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee
and are awaiting passage by the full Senate.
“We salute Senator Durbin for taking the lead on these crucial human
rights issues of the day,” Roth said.
[Source:
Human Rights Watch]
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Columns by Jay Chauhan
Jay
Chauhan is a mediator, senior lawyer based in
Richmond Hill, Ontario, near Toronto, and an Economist from The London
School of Economics. He is a graduate of the Berlin University
in Agricultural Economics. He has 34 years experience and writes on legal
matters. He received Canadian Journalists' and Writers' Club (CEJWC) award
for 2004 in the Internet category - Opinion - for his legal columns in
South Asian Outlook e-Monthly. His email address is: jaychauhan53@hotmail.com
. His website is: www.jaychauhan.com].
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