Status of Mass International Crimes in Islamic Law - Research Proposal Example

The status of mass international crimes in Islamic law and the position of the GCC states towards the International Criminal Court. COURSE NAME STUDENT NAME STUDY LEVEL DATE Paper Outline Part 1 1. Introduction 2. Research focus 3. Purpose of the study 4. Importance of the study 5. Research question 6. Literature review Part 2 7. Methodology 8. GCC and the ICC Conference Preparation 9. GCC and the Drafting of Yugoslavia (ICTY) 10. GCC and the Drafting of Rwanda (ICTR) 11. GCC on Indictment of African Leaders 12. Conclusion 13. Bibliography Part 1 Introduction The state of international security especially with the trends of mass crimes against humanity has led to new developments drawing the attention of the Islamic laws. Most of the global incidents of genocide, war crimes and crime against Humanity have affected Islam dominated areas1. This paper involves a critical exposition of the position of Islamic International Organizations on the emerging trend and the past History of the mass crimes against Islamic laws2. It intends to compare the position of Islamic Laws and the position of the Gulf Cooperation Council (G.C.C.) concerning the international security as well as mitigation of the trends of impunity3. The research seeks to evaluate the influence of Islam and GCC in the setup of major International bodies handling criminals4. It will make reference to the some of the real cases of war crime, genocide and crime against humanity in the recent past up to now. A good Example is in Egypt where there has been long struggle for democracy5. Research focus The focus of this research is to explore the details of information about the response of Islam to the international situation about war crimes, genocide and crime against humanity6. The research will sample case studies in the affected areas and establish the position of Islamic bodies on the formation of bodies that deal with the crisis surrounding the mass crime7. The details of the events that have unfolded in the Historic chronology will determine the effectiveness of Islamic bodies in mitigating the global mass crime situation8. It will assess the responses of Islamic Human right bodies towards the actions of International Criminal Court and the formulation of ICC statutes. Here, the study is interested in establishing the relationship of GCC and ICC with respect to the global incidents of war crimes, genocide and crimes against Humanity. Ultimately, the research intends to test the hypothesis that GCC does not agree with the legal stand and decisions of ICC, including the actions of indictment on certain leaders from Africa9. Purpose of the study The goal of this research is to evaluate the effects of Islamic bodies in fighting crime and genocide. The kind of justice system that Islamic bodies propose is another area of study for this research. Another core objective of this research is to discuss the kind of relationship that exists between GCC and ICC and whether the two organizations share common views or not10. In the process, the research will cover the possible contribution of the two organizations towards restoration of global peace situation11. The third purpose of this research is to establish the role of GCC in the formation of various human right laws, with case studies of certain regions such as Rwanda and Yugoslavia. Apart from the establishment of ICC statutes, this study intends to discuss the legal issues with regards to the treatment of ICC suspects12. Importance of the study The study is essential to the Islamic Human right Bodies in the protection of the fundamental freedoms and rights of the suspects indicted by ICC. The research acts as a voice to the weak in the society with the application of Islamic laws13. The weak are the victims of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It will serve as an exposition of cases of injustice in ICC cases, and on the sides of the victims and witnesses14. The measure of justice is the equality with which the ICC treats different suspects in similar cases of mass crimes15. Out of the research, it will be easy for a reader to understand whether GCC is consistent with its perspective on mass crimes or it has the ability to compromise its position16. It means therefore that the study has to traverse various historic events to conduct a holistic comparison. This study is vital as an informative material for empowering legal practitioners in the global Islamic fraternity17. In the event of violation of fundamental rights, this paper is a point of reference and a corrective control. In the process, there will be a differentiation between the understandings of war crime in Islamic law and in the ICC, or otherwise, similarities18. Research question This research paper aims at getting answers to some fundamental questions. These questions are: 1. Is there a common perspective between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the International Criminal Court (ICC)? 2. Which actions of ICC does GCC differ with? 3. Does the existence of the GCC hinder the ICC from achieving its objectives? The answers to the three questions attempt to provide a clear picture of the correlation between the existence of ICC and the GCC. Literature review Part 2 GCC and the ICC Conference Preparation The Gulf Cooperation Council has been against the conferences organized by the International Criminal court19. GCC has resisted the idea of making joint programs and conferences with ICC. In 2011, GCC made a statement to request the United Nations Security Council to protect the Libyan civilians from the effects of war crime by declaring Libya airspace a no fly area20. GCC supported the League of Arab Nation headed by Qatar, when the League announced that the leadership of Libya be transferred from Gaddafi regime to the Transitional government21.  However, GCC did not support the arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court issued for the arrest of Muammar Gaddafi and his government officials. GCC resisted the preparation of the conference and the agenda22. The GCC perspective was that ICC would not give fair treatment to Gaddafi; hence it preferred a local tribunal to prosecute the case in a local tribunal under the Transitional Government23. The prosecutor of ICC, Louis Mareno Ocampo, during the conference, announced that his mission would not concentrate on the crimes that were perpetrated by rebels24. He instead clarified that his office had to make sure the alleged crimes are investigated before they prosecute Gaddafi25.  In a conference in Brazil, the United Nation Security Council said in a statement that the United Nation Security Council did not support the use of violence and excessive force against innocent civilians26. The UN Council stated that it condemned the suppression against peaceful protesters, and articulated profound apologies at the mass killings of helpless civilians27. The UN Security Council ordered an urgent end to the violence. It also ordered for procedure to voice the legal needs of the civilians including the use of dialogue28. The UN Security Council emphasized the need to prosecute the perpetrators of attacks against civilians. In the same year, the UN Security Council passed a unanimous resolution to issue sanction to the top ten government officials in the Gaddafi regime together with Gaddafi and members of his family29. The UN Security Council presented the case to the International Criminal Court, charging the perpetrators with war crimes and crimes against Humanity30. It reported the use of massive planned attacks against protesters, who were majorly civilians. In the same conference, the UN Security Council presented the first cases of war crimes in Darfur to the ICC. GCC and the Drafting of Yugoslavia (ICTY) International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia was formed by the UN Security Council in 199331. Its main purpose was to prosecute the people responsible for gross violation of international laws perpetrated in the land of Yugoslavia from the year 199132. The international community had expressed interest in trying the suspects in International Criminal Court33. However, Yugoslavia leaders decided to form local tribunal and applied diplomatic negotiations34. The resolution of the 1993 conference passed approval on the Secretary General report for local tribunal which agreed to co-operate with the oversight Statute of the International Tribunal, the ICTY35. This tribunal was only to preside over specific crimes committed in Yugoslavia, such as genocide, failure to co-operate with the Geneva Conventions, war crimes and crime against humanity36. It only issued life sentence as the maximum sentence37. The tribunal had set base as a judicial body with a clear legal procedure with rules and regulation. It became a challenge to establish the distinct functions of the ICTY, since it is a section of the United Nations and ICC. Even so, the ICTY were able to document rules for the court proceedings38. GCC and the Drafting of Rwanda (ICTR) The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was created in the year 1994 by the United Nations Security Council to try the perpetrators of the Rwanda genocides. The UN Security Council ordered the investigation to be completed by the end of 2004.The tribunal deals with cases of international criminal cases of war crimes, genocide and crime against humanity, all being cases of internal disputes39. ICTR has completed trying fifty cases out of which So far. Out of the fifty, the tribunal has found twenty nine guilty40. At present, eleven of them are undergoing trial and fourteen are in detention. There are those who should be tried but they have either disappeared or died. The plan was that the cases were to be completed between 2008 and 2010 but some cases have been transferred to the prosecutor41. The goals have since changed while those at large cannot be traced. The United Nations Security Council implored the ICTR tribunal to avoid unnecessary delays of the cases and complete their proceedings by the end of 2014 so that the rest of the work can be done by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals42. The ICTR tribunal introduced transparency mechanism by which every proceeding is aired in public and the speeches are translated into English, French, the local language and sign language43. GCC on Indictment of African Leaders GCC have expressed non acceptance to the ICC’s decision to indict certain African leaders and book them in for trial at The Hague44. Examples of the famous African leaders are Charles Taylor of Sierra Leone, Omar El Bashir of Sudan and Joseph Kony of Uganda. Even though the GCC leaders do not dispute the fact that Omar El Bashir deserves arrest and trial, they do not welcome the idea of having the process done by the ICC45. Following the arrest warrant, the GCC member states have had to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss ways forward to block the execution of the arrest46. The council has stated in various statements, its unwillingness to co-operate with the Rome Statute and instead offer protection to the Sudan Leader. The GCC member states include includes Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar47. The council has held meetings in Qatar to discuss the involvement of the ICC in the Middle East. In addition GCC states, which are members of the Libya contact group, authorized the ICC inquiry in Libya. These investigations were triggered by a referral from the United Nations Security Council48. When the ICC prosecutor declared that he was pursuing an arrest warrant seeking to arrest the Libyan head of state Muammar Gaddafi, his sons and other government officials, the GCC member states were adamant and did not immediately respond positively49. Methodology The research process for this project will take into account the need to present utmost accurate information. It will therefore conduct step by step sequence of statistical procedure in from the data collection stage to the information presentation. The sequence of activities will flow in the following manner. A. Data Collection: Data Collection will take place in form of sampling of secondary data from authorized public sources and from the online libraries. The authorized sources are books, Newspapers and magazines, covering relevant information on the position of Islamic Laws on war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. B. Data Analysis After collection and selection of relevant data samples, the next step is to organize related data samples and running them through Statistical package, which will be SPSS for this research. The results of data analysis will be used for the next step, Data interpretation. The related data will for example be the records of the people indicted by ICC in 2012. C. Data Interpretation This literally will mean the deciphering of the implication of values obtained from the analysis into a logical and relevant meaning. The meaning of the interpretation will be authoritative declaration since it is based on proven facts and practical tests. The interpretation will use logical statements that recommend action plans and change of parading to conform to the emerging trends of information. D. Data Presentation This is the use of various structures and tools to reflect the image of analyzed and interpreted data. Representation tools will be tools such as graphs, pie chart and any form of graphical representation. We will for example have graph representing the number of genocide cases pending in ICC, presented by their years of occurrence C. Recommendations This is a list of conclusive remarks with suggestions of action plans where necessary. Conclusion All indicators have shown negative response from GCC member states in dealing with international mass crimes. While Islamic laws are against war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, their response is hypocritical as far as international laws and foreign policies are concerned50. It is a challenge to the United Nations since foreign policies prohibit forceful arrest of heads of states, except if the suspects trespass the boundaries of other countries. Bibliography A Cassese, Acquaviva, G., Fan, M. & Whiting, A. International Criminal Law: Cases and Commentary, Oxford University Press, US, 2011, P. 23. A Denis, Prisoners of the International Community: The Legal Position of Persons Detained at International Criminal Tribunals, Springer, USA, 2012. A Diana, A Global Agenda: Issues Before the 57th Assembly of the United Nations, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2002. A Neier, The International Human Rights Movement: A History, Princeton University Press, US, 2012. A S Charles, The Rise and Fall of War Crimes Trials: From Charles I to Bush II, Cambridge University Press, London, 2012. A. B. Downes, Rt-Targeting Civilians in War Z, Cornell University Press, USA, 2011. 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F Malekian, Principles of Islamic International Criminal Law: A Comparative Search, BRILL, US, 2011, P34. F Z Ntoubandi, Amnesty for Crimes against Humanity under International Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Netherlands, 2007. G Robertson, Crimes against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice, New Press, UK, 2013. H Schatte, Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and the Admissibility of Cases, GRIN Verlag, UK, 2009. J E Gareth, The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All, Brookings Institution Press, London, 2008. J R W D Jones, The practice of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Transnational Publishers, UK, 2000. J. A. Alex, Massacres and Morality: Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity, Oxford University Press, London, 2012. 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