Foreign News

Beth Van Schaack, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, discusses U.S. justice and accountability policy abroad. OLUKOREDE YISHAU, chief of the United States bureau, attended the briefing organized by the Washington Foreign Press Center. These are excerpts: My office, the Office of Global Criminal Justice, provides advice to various U.S. entities. Government regarding policies to prevent, mitigate, and respond to international atrocities. To this end, we generally engage in multilateral diplomacy; we build partnerships with like-minded states; we look for ways to strengthen the entire system of international justice; we encourage the adoption of inclusive and comprehensive transitional justice programs and processes in states emerging from conflict or authoritarianism; and we employ a small programming budget to build capacity for this work, frequently in collaboration with civil society organizations. As we seek to promote accountability for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity around the world, we are motivated by the realization that accountability for those most responsible, coupled with an honest assessment of the past, is crucial for the establishment of a lasting peace in the aftermath of conflict. The entire field of transitional justice, which is comprised of a variety of judicial and nonjudicial measures, formal and informal measures, and retributive and restorative justice measures, provides a set of tools for societies emerging from armed conflict or repression to address legacies of mass violence, authoritarianism, or impunity, to comprehensively rehabilitate survivors and their communities after violence, but also to engage in truth telling, and to engage in mechanisms for accountability. A program of transitional justice can promote accountability, reconstruct social cohesion, restore trust in formerly abusive institutions, and prevent the recurrence of such violations by layering and sequencing these various mechanisms. As is now more evident than ever in the field, survivors and their communities are organizing amongst themselves to pursue justice before the conclusion of conflicts. To be effective, we know that any justice mechanism must be responsive to the needs and preferences of survivors in their communities, especially those most affected by violence, such as women and girls, ethnic and religious minorities, and others who have been marginalized by society. In light of this, we make every effort to assure trauma-informed and survivor-centered approaches to justice at all times. These measures can facilitate psychosocial recovery, the rehabilitation of survivors and their communities, and the pursuit of life goals with dignity. Institutional structure In the past decade, incredible innovations have occurred in this discipline. Institutional structures are becoming more decentralized and multipolar. And while the International Criminal Court is an integral part of this larger system, there are other domestic and international justice activities taking place. Particularly, states are assuming the responsibility of adjudicating cases of international crimes in their own tribunals when they have access – when they can exercise jurisdiction over the perpetrators. These cases are proceeding in accordance with expansive extraterritorial jurisdiction principles, including universal jurisdiction. National war crimes units – based in the equivalent of our Department of Justice here in the United States – are also increasingly coordinating with one another to share evidence, strategies, and information, and to collaborate on international arrest operations when defendants are within their jurisdictional reach. And states have expanded their use of sanctions, visa restrictions, and import/export regulations for the benefit of victims and survivors, as well as to impede the ability of evil actors to commit, finance, and profit financially from their criminal behavior. Many nongovernmental organizations receive funding from the United States. State Department officials have emerged as key figures in these proceedings. To inform accountability processes, these organizations, which are frequently lead by survivors, collect and evaluate potential evidence in real time in accordance with international standards. This includes sophisticated open-source investigations that rely on the ability to geolocate photos and other digital artifacts, to scour social media platforms for actionable information, and to access satellite-based data that was previously only accessible to specific governments at specific resolutions. The Conflict Observatory, a group of open-source investigators financed by the United States, is one example. State Department is one source of information regarding the Sudan and Ukraine conflicts. Similarly, the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, which is supported by over a dozen governments, including the United States, is a consortium of civil society organizations that collaborate to share information about human rights violations and atrocities in Belarus. Civil society actors, youth, and human rights defenders, as well as diaspora communities, play a greater role than ever in these justice processes, despite the high risks and arduous nature of their work. The promotion of survivor-centered and trauma-informed documentation, investigation, and evidence preservation techniques continues to advance in all areas. Over the years, we’ve observed that applying these best practices not only yields better, more extensive, and higher-quality evidence for accountability purposes, but also enables investigations to proceed in a manner that mitigates harm to survivors and reduces the risk of re-traumatization. The significance of accurate documentation cannot be emphasized, as it will serve as the foundation for any justice efforts that may be in progress. Moreover, what we’ve observed is that victims and survivors value the naming and shaming of perpetrators, the removal of the privilege of anonymity that perpetrators enjoy, truth telling, and the establishment of accurate historical records, particularly when accountability options are limited, where there are attempts at propaganda and misinformation to tell a different story, and also to the establishment of accurate historical records. The creation of high-quality documentation will counteract criminals’ efforts to deny committing crimes. Engagements of note during the Biden-Harris administration In Colombia, a comprehensive Peace Accord signed in 2016 brought an end to a half-century of conflict marked by disappearances, forced displacement, and other atrocities and violations. The accord has given victims and survivors a voice in their pursuit of truth, justice, and reparations. Colombia is now a model for societies around the world searching for ways to create a comprehensive transitional justice program that sequences and layers different mechanisms, while also implementing a gender-sensitive approach