DHAKA, 14 February 2005 — Bangladesh failed to have 193 war criminals tried by the International Court of Justice because of a tripartite treaty between Delhi, Islamabad and Dhaka, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said yesterday.
Speaking about genocide during the 1971 liberation war, Ahmed said Bangladesh withdrew a case filed against 193 war criminals with the International Court of Justice in the greater interest of the region.
“The main reason why Bangladesh has not been able to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the stand taken by four South Asian countries — India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan — who have not yet signed it,” Ahmed told the South Asian Conference on the International Criminal Court: Campaigns, Prospects and Challenges.
Bangladesh is the only country in South Asia to have signed the Rome Statute in 1999. But it is yet to ratify it.
Dhaka cannot run into a situation that may jeopardize the country’s sovereignty, said T.H. Khan, a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda. The government needs to studiously scrutinize the pros and cons of the statute before ratification, he said.
“India is against the ICC as it is obsessed with national sovereignty,” said Saumya Uma of Wrag, a non-governmental organization of India.
Razia Sultana and Sayed Amanullah Abdali made country presentations for Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Nepal’s Subodh R. Pyakurel’s paper was read out at the conference as he could not attend.
The ICC was established under the Rome Statute on July 17, 1998 with 120 signatory states to prosecute the perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, aggression and crimes against humanity. The court came into force on July 1, 2002 with its ratification by 60 states.
The Rome Statute so far has 139 signatory countries and 97 of them have ratified it.
The conference was organized jointly by Odhikar, a rights group, and Bangladesh Coalition for the ICC. Its four sessions were chaired by Odhikar President Tasneem Siddiqui, former ambassador Muhammad Zamir, Adilur Rahman Khan and Ahmed Ziauddin.
The law minister underscored the need for a political consensus in Bangladesh as well as the South Asian region before taking steps for ratification of the charter on the International Criminal Court.
Awami League MP Faruk Khan talked about the war criminals of 1971 and the need for ratification of the Rome Statue to bring all of them to justice. Speakers said some other constraints, including immunity to prosecution under Article 48 of the Bangladesh constitution and impact on the domestic legal order, have to be looked into before the ratification of the treaty.
