
Brothers in arms, and crimes? (Photo: http://www.presidentassad.net)
According to Borzou Daragahi of the LA Times, at least one unnamed Western government is funding a fact-finding operation in Syria in order to gather evidence which may eventually be used against Syrian President Bashar Assad in a case before the International Criminal Court.
When considering why Libya and not Syria was referred to the ICC, it is hard not to be stumped. There is no good answer. After all, if we are to believe what human rights groups say – that a crime against humanity is a crime against humanity, regardless of where it takes place – then surely the treatment of international crimes across contexts should be similar. Does the divergent treatment of the gravest of crimes, with only a chosen few subjected to international justice, not demonstrate the uncomfortable reality that some forms of suffering and violence are more important and worthy of attention than others? In the wake of indictments issued by the ICC against the Tripoli Three, even the Gaddafi regime appeared to have noticed this uneven application of justice.
There has been no shortage of speculation on the reasons for the divergent (some would simply describe it as hypocritical) international responses to the alleged atrocities being committed in Libya and Syria: the Western powers have spent their political capital on intervening in Libya; there is little support from regional organizations for an intervention in Libya; perhaps the ICC is experiencing “judicial overstretch” with its ever-expanding case-load; and the ICC simply doesn’t have enough money to investigate crimes, particularly in the wake of new investigations in Libya and Ivory Coast.
It is in this context of a general lack of international political will and a lack of funds that reports regarding a clandestine funding of a fact-finding mission in Syria have emerged:
“At least one Western government is bankrolling a project to gather evidence that could be used to indict Syria’s President Bashar Assad at an international tribunal over his crackdown on the country’s democracy movement, said a jurist leading the effort and a diplomat whose government is sponsoring it.
The fact-finding mission mostly involves assembling testimony from Syrian refugees that conforms to standards of international law necessary to sustain a war crimes trial at the International Criminal Court“



















