Global Policy Forum

By Alexander Duma and Roger Thorn

International judges must now be deployed, say Alexander Duma and Roger Thorn

Justice, not judicially administered revenge, is vital in Kosovo. This was the conclusion of the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) after its fact-finding mission to the region. Our report, Kosovo 2000: Justice not Revenge, published last year, concluded that there was an urgent need for the international community to assist in the administration of justice to prevent serious violations of human rights. One year on, what has been achieved?

Our very real concern was that if UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) allowed the victors to try the vanquished and failed to implement fair trial standards, the consequences would be dire. The problem was intensified by the lack of trained judges - not just of impartial judges, although we had, and still retain, doubts about the ability of all the newly appointed judges to stand back from their ethnic affiliations.

It seemed to us therefore that the international community would be failing in its duty to the people of Kosovo if we did not seek to ensure urgent impartial justice as commonly understood.

On March 8 last year a leader in The Times endorsed our recommendations, especially the provision of international prosecutors and judges, as there had been well-documented evidence not only of judicial bias but also, probably as importantly, of perceived bias.

It is perhaps not hard to understand that to many an ethnic Albanian, a Serb is a Serb and therefore a bad person and to a Serb an Albanian is just that also. When few families remain who have not lost members to the other side, revenge comes easily - some judges may be no exception.

On March 16 Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, and the Foreign Secretary issued a joint statement offering independent judicial assistance. Robin Cook expected "shortly to see at least a dozen, perhaps more, of the British legal profession working to help to bring justice to Kosovo. The first should arrive before the end of next month".

The legal profession was mobilised. More than 200 applications of interest were received by the Lord Chancellor's Department from members of the Bar and judiciary. More than 70 then made firm applications with a serious commitment to serve in Kosovo for up to six months. Nearly one year on from the joint statement, none of those offers has been taken up.

Meanwhile, in November Amnesty International voiced concern about the fairness of the trial of Momcilo Trajkovic, a Serb facing charges of war crimes against ethnic Albanians. The trial was taking place in the continued absence of a prosecutor from the international community, clearly contrary to the safeguard recommended by the UN.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which has a mandate to monitor human rights throughout Kosovo, issued a report on October 18, 2000: Kosovo: Review of the Criminal Justice System. The report admits to continuing failings in the administration of justice and states that the appointment of further international judges and prosecutors should be treated as a short-term priority.

We must therefore regard it as timely to review our own commitment to international standards of justice. Do we believe in the rule of law and the right to a fair trial? Surely we do.

For want of resources, the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague has declined jurisdiction over the trials of alleged war criminals in Kosovo's courts. Meanwhile, we cannot sit aside as these trials go forward on a basis we would find unacceptable in our own courts. We have a duty to the people of Kosovo and our own standards of morality to do otherwise.

The appointment of any international personnel necessitates planning, training, security measures and some expense; the BHRC acknowledges that the situation in Kosovo is complex and delicate. But we are where we are, and however we have arrived at the present state of affairs is history. There is an urgent need for us and the international community to address the present rather than the past, and to do so effectively and with vigour.

We understand that since the new year there have been no British international judges or prosecutors in the region. The high number of responses from the English Bar now seems at risk of being set at naught.

The appointment of the new UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup of Denmark, represents an opportunity to reassess the role of international judges and prosecutors, and to implement the terms of the joint statement. The opportunity must be grasped.

It remains for Cook to urge UNMIK to utilise the professional assistance that has been offered here. If his statement is to be seen as having ongoing credibility, he must follow through his own call for such a response. It has exceeded sevenfold his expectations.

The spectre of ethnic conflict continues to overshadow the Balkans. Let Britain at least not shut its eyes to it.