22 May 2003
Iraqi Jurists Propose Plan for Transitional Justice, Rule of Law in Iraq
(Jurists say rule of law measures vital to stabilize the country) (980) Phillip Kurata Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- The Iraqi Jurists' Association, with logistical support from the State Department, has produced a plan for transitional justice and the rule of law in Iraq amidst the anarchy following the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The State Department organized the Working Group for Transitional Justice under the Future of Iraq Project in cooperation with the London-based Iraqi Jurists' Association in July 2002. The result of the cooperative effort is a 250-page "blueprint for action," which was released at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington May 21. The report addresses such issues as how trials for atrocities committed by the Hussein regime should be conducted, how the broader process of eliminating the influence of Hussein's Baath Party should proceed, how the Iraqi legal codes should be revised and how Iraq's judiciary, legal practice, police and prisons should be reformed. The views presented in the report are those of the lawyers, judges and legal scholars in the Iraqi Jurists' Association, said Sermid D. Al-Sarraf, a Muslim American attorney who is a member of the working group and the jurists' association. The State Department played a facilitating role for the discussions among Iraqi jurists but had no part in formulating the proposals for transitional justice, Sarraf said. The report is divided into three main areas: -- Truth, Accountability and Reconciliation. The report provides recommendations for the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, as well as with murder under national law, Sarraf said. "Beyond the major crimes, an active truth and reconciliation process is required to identify, record and disseminate information about what transpired under this regime. Additional remedies other than deprivation of liberty such as personal payments of victims' compensation, community service and lustration mechanisms are available for those offenses which do not rise to the level of major crimes," the report said. -- Legal reform. That involves analyzing the Iraqi legal code and identifying its provisions that violate the basic concept of human rights, Sarraf said. Sarraf said an example is the law that makes publishing information without government authorization a criminal offense punishable by death. -- Institutional reform. The jurists looked at not just the judiciary, but also the police, the prisons, the security organizations and the military and studied how they were subverted to protect and serve Saddam Hussein, Sarraf said. The report contains recommendations for reforming those institutions so they serve and protect the Iraqi people in the future, Sarraf said. The report deals only with legal issues that are important in the transitional phase, Sarraf said. The report does not deal with family law and the civil code, which he said the Iraqi people with their new government can decide about changing in the future. "It's up to the Iraqi people to decide if they want to change the family code. It's up to the Iraqi people to develop a civil code," Sarraf said. With regard to rewriting the constitution, Sarraf said the group did not endorse any of Iraq's previous constitutions, which he said all had problems. Instead, the jurists identified constitutional principles on which to draft a new constitution, he said. In a striking departure from legal codes in most other Arab countries, Sarraf said the recommendations in the report are "gender-neutral." "The Nationality Law was used by the regime to deprive individuals of basic human rights. In most of the Arab countries individuals obtain citizenship through their fathers. This report, however, is gender-neutral, so it says that citizenship should be obtained through father and mother," Sarraf said. The report is the work of jurists who have practiced and lived under the legal system of Iraq, so it is custom-tailored to the Iraqi culture, Sarraf said. "There's a discussion about forgiveness in the report dealing with truth and reconciliation. That's the concept that is known in Islam. It's known in the Arab world, and it is unique to that environment, so the recommendations that we have are custom-tailored to the environment," Sarraf said. Tariq Ali Al-Saleh, the chairman of both the transitional justice working group and the Iraqi Jurists' Association, said he visited Baghdad from May 7 to 19 and presented the recommendations in the report to Iraqi judges, prosecutors, and legal scholars. He said all the jurists he met with welcomed the recommendations and demanded intensified efforts to establish rule of law in order to quell the anarchy that has overcome the country since the toppling of the Hussein regime. Al-Saleh said if the security situation continues to deteriorate, the civil war could break out in several months. He said armed gangs backed by hostile political forces in the region are engaged in killing, rape and robbery with impunity. Another member of the jurists' association, Reyahd Abdul Majeed Al-Kabban, said most Iraqis are mainly concerned about law and order for the safety of their children and property. He said democracy is a secondary concern now. Neil Kritz, the director of the U.S. Institute of Peace's Rule of Law program, said, "One of the things that has become increasingly apparent is the absolute centrality of the establishment of the rule of law for the success of the transition in post-war Iraq." "We've all seen a dramatic rise in crime, a rise in crime unlike what has been seen by Iraqis, unlike anything they have been accustomed to in the past. We now have coalition forces detaining large numbers of people, but the questions still remain about how any of these people will be processed, what capacity will exist for any kind of a justice process to ensue, not only for the top leadership, but also for common criminals," Kritz added. (The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
