COMMISSION OF INQUIRY FOR INT’L WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
MEMORANDUM #1: WEST COAST RESEARCH CATEGORIES and General Summary
The International Action Center is pleased to announce that the preparation for the International War Crimes Tribunal is officially under way. We both welcome and encourage all who would like to participate in the research effort.
The initial hearing on the indictment will be held in New York City at Dubinsky Hall at the Fashion Institute of Technology on July 31st. Currently, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark is writing up a multi-charge complaint, naming William J. Clinton, Madeleine Albright, William Cohen, various US/NATO Generals and others, as defendants for their part in the war against Yugoslavia. A parallel hearing will be scheduled in San Francisco in the fall.
The Tribunal research is being organized out of our headquarters in New York City. San Francisco will be operating as the center for information collection in the West Coast. Please feel free to e-mail (wct-research@actionsf.org) or fax (415-821-5782) the International Action Center all relevant research, or research reasonably calculated to lead to relevant information.
Below is a list of categories of research for the Tribunal. It will be helpful if any research sent to the IAC is labeled by relevant corresponding category or categories. Please also include your name, phone number and e-mail in case you need to be reached. If you want more information about the research or are interested in helping with the research committee, please contact us via email or call Richard Becker or Nancy Mitchell 415-821-6545.
The indictment will be based on crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It will examine the laws of armed conflict, the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Charter, the United Nations Charter, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The general categories of research are as follows:
Agriculture, Destruction of
Albania
Assassination and other attacks of Yugo politicians and leaders
Civilian Casualties
Civilian Infrastructure, Destruction of (Electrical Plants, Bridges, Hospitals, etc…)
Chinese Embassy
Criminal Statements, Politicians and Leaders
Cultural and Historical Sites, Destruction of
Demonization of Serbs
Dismemberment, Future Plans
Dismemberment, Kosovo
Dismemberment, Slovenia through Bosnia
Division and Occupation, Kosovo
Education, Effects on
Environment, Destruction of
Factories and Work Places, Destruction of
Healthcare
International Court of Justice
International Law, Violation of
International War Crimes Tribunal (Anti-Yugo)
KLA
Media, Destruction of Yugoslav
Media, Unsubstantiated Lies, Distortions and Rumors
Military, U.S. Spending and Contracts
NATO Expansionism
Opposition to Yugo. Gov., U.S. Sponsored
Photographs
Rambouillet Accords
Refugees, Post-war
Refugees, War
Roma People, and other minorities
UN Charter, Violation of
U.S. Constitution, Violation of
Video Documentation
Weapons, Illegal (DU, Cluster)
Weapons, U.S./NATO Hardware
ON THE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
We project a massive people’s tribunal on the war on Yugoslavia. It is essential that we develop an international forum that holds the U.S. and NATO accountable for its criminal acts.
A Commission of Inquiry into War Crimes that examines the U.S./NATO conduct of the war against Yugoslavia can incorporate the efforts of organizations and activists in many countries. What is needed is a public gathering of evidence worldwide in a form that can involve the efforts of many thousands of people. Eyewitness evidence, expert testimony from doctors, scientists and lawyers will be included. We will review the public statements of the leaders of the NATO countries describing their reasons for the war. The Ramboulliet Accords as a NATO ultimatum leading up to the bombing will be carefully examined and analyzed. Research will include the beneficiaries of war contracts and the new control of resources in the region. This International Commission will examine newspaper coverage, magazines and periodicals, TV news broadcasts radio and other public materials. Videotapes and photos will be used as evidence. The indictment will be drawn up by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. It will be based on international law, international conventions to which the NATO countries are signatories, and the UN charter. This indictment will be ready in early July. The reading of the indictment and presentation of initial evidence will be held at a daylong hearing in New York City on Saturday, July 31.
This will be followed by other large public hearings of the initial evidence and new material gathered on an ongoing basis. These events will be organized by local activists in many cities in the U.S. and hopefully in all the NATO countries.
Many other countries around the world may also want to hold mass public hearings on the evidence gathered because NATO is projected now as a global police force. The major military and economic powers have set a dangerous new precedent on their right to intervene in the internal affairs of a small country.
We will help coordinate this effort through the Internet and email. It will incorporate the use of videos and utilize satellite hook ups. Millions of people can be involved and educated on the aims of the war, the impact and the next stage of conflict.
At the end of several months of mass hearings the Commission of Inquiry will convene a final War Crimes Tribunal. The Commission will ask internationally acclaimed jurists, human rights activists, trade unionists, leaders of civil rights and women’s organizations, members of parliaments and others to review the body of evidence and issue a public verdict.
Many groups and individuals from all over the world have already gathered and prepared extensive evidence of NATO crimes.
The international effort to gather material and hold hearings on war crimes will work with and utilize the material already gathered by many groups of lawyers, jurists, peace groups and NGOs along with the new material.
The body called the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is a political weapon initiated by the U.S. through the Security Council. Its very existence is a violation of the UN Charter and of the sovereignty of nations. This kangaroo court was established in 1993 as part of the effort to justify Western intervention in the Balkans. It is not in any way part of the International Court of Justice which has been based at the Hague in the Netherlands for 50 years.
This International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is stacked with U.S. influenced appointees. No comparable institution exists that is capable of judging U.S./NATO war crimes. Now, an additional 300 investigators will be added by NATO countries to look into Serbian war crimes in Kosovo. No investigators were added to look into NATO war crimes in Kosovo. This reality exposes the tribunal’s real agenda.
As the official NATO spokesperson Jamie Shea bragged, "We [NATO countries] are the biggest supporters of the War Crimes Tribunal [for the Former Yugoslavia]. NATO finances the International War Crimes Tribunal." Washington decided to brand President Milosevic a war criminal long before the actual events for which he is charged occurred in Kosovo. On July 18, 1998, the U.S. Senate voted for a resolution to indict Yugoslav President Milosevic as a war criminal.
Last year the U.S. government sabotaged an international effort in Rome, Italy to establish an authentically independent International War Crimes Tribunal. Washington was opposed to any effort to establish a court or any type of international mechanism where U.S. military and political personnel could also be charged with war crimes.
The only avenue open to a genuine public inquiry into the events surrounding the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia is a broad based grassroots people’s effort. Such an international activity can educate millions of people to the wider war that is even now in preparation.
We welcome your support for this effort. Please feel free to contact our office at (212) 633-6646, fax (212) 633-2889, or email iacenter@iacenter.org, in New York, or (415)821-6545, fax (415)821-5782, or email wct-research@actionsf.org in San Francisco.
Back to: Research Organized out of New York City