(NC)—The past century witnessed the violent deaths of millions of people around the globe. In the past decade alone the world witnessed genocide in Rwanda, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and ongoing violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sadly, in the past those responsible for mass human rights violations have almost always escaped punishment. Victims and their families have been denied justice time and time again.
However, this may be changing. The establishment of the International Criminal Court in July 2002 has brought hope that those who commit these crimes will no longer go unpunished.
Hailed as the most important development in international human rights law in a half century, the court will have authority to try those responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity when their own government is unable or unwilling to do so. Many see the court as the missing link between the ideals established more than fifty years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the as yet unrealized reality of international justice.
Since 1993, the global human rights organization Amnesty International has been working to make the dream of a permanent International Criminal Court a reality. The organization and its nearly two million members have been leading voices advocating for a strong, fair and independent court that is able to send a strong message around the world that these crimes will no longer be tolerated and that the lives of all people, everywhere must be respected.
To that end, Amnesty International is calling on the Canadian government to pro-actively support a strong and effective International Criminal Court by continuing to press other states to ratify the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the court.
To learn more about Amnesty's work for international justice, please write to Amnesty International, 312 Laurier Ave East, Suite 200, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 1H9 or call us at 1-800-AMNESTY (266-3789) or visit
www.amnesty.ca.
- News Canada
About the author:
News Canada
