Amnesty International is extremely dismayed at the decision by the Court of Appeal of Brussels that declared a complaint concerning the "Sharon" case inadmissible. The Court's decision was based on its analysis of Belgian law which concluded that no investigation can be opened in Belgium for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide unless the suspect is found in the country. The complaint before the Belgian court concerned the killings of at least 900 Palestinian men, women and children in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon in September 1982. "This restrictive interpretation of Belgian national law is inconsistent with international law," said Amnesty International. The organization believes that the Belgian Parliament, in enacting the 1993 law providing for universal jurisdiction over war crimes, as well as in its 1999 amendment to that law extendps were war crimes and need to be fully and impartially investigated," said Amnesty International. "International law to combat impunity must not be undermined, especially as the International Criminal Court will enter into force on 1 July." Amnesty International is awaiting the full text of the judgement.
Background
As the results of an Amnesty International study of national law in more than 125 countries published in September 2001 demonstrate, international law permits any state to exercise universal jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture and, indeed, even ordinary crimes, and all but a handful of the national laws providing for universal jurisdiction do not contain any requirement that the suspects be present in the country in order for the police, prhall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts. It may also, if it prefers, and in accordance with the provisions of its own legislation, hand such persons over for trial to another High Contracting Party concerned, provided such High Contracting Party has made out a ' prima facie' case."