International Tribunal for IS members, a historic necessity Analysts
After their military defeat, the debate over the trial of IS prisoners who are pose security and social threat to the region is raging, analysts say that the establishment of an international court is an indispensable “historical necessity”, and any negligence means an explosion of these “ticking bombs”, and the return of the terrorist group.
A Sovereign State
1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), that seeks to hold to account those guilty of some of the world’s worst crimes in 2002, stated:
“Temporary international tribunals must be held in a sovereign state.” This is one of the most important problems facing the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, especially among the disrupted relations with Damascus, due to diplomatic, political and economic embargo imposed by the United States and its allies on the Syrian government.
114 states have ratified the ICC so far and are working to stop human rights violations by investigating genocide crimes and war crimes against humanity.
Temporary International Courts
The International Court lies in The Hague in the Netherlands, according to international laws, the guilty must be trailed in that court, but experiences of Nazi trials give the opportunity to hold temporary international tribunals.
Establishing such a court, in north and east Syria for instance, would require an international resolution by the United Nations Security Council.
In this context, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said that she had discussed with the European countries the “theory” of establishing an international tribunal in Iraq to prosecute IS foreign militants.
“This is speculation voiced by many of my counterparts, Interior Ministers and Justice Ministers alike, at the European level,” Belloubet said in a statement to Radio Monte Carlo, noting that the discussions are taking place in a framework of the Vendome Group, which includes the ministers of justice of Germany, Spain and Italy.
In this context, the Kurdish parties of autonomous administration of north and east Syria refused this proposal and stressed on setting up these courts in northern Syria.
Local Courts
In confirmed information obtained by “North-Press”, Syrian IS prisoners in northern Syria, are prosecuted as in Iraq, in special courts by the Autonomous Administration, nevertheless, according to the administration’s officials, they need financial, security and legal support, as neither the infrastructure nor the security apparatus is efficient to carry out these tasks, in addition to the lack of legal expertise.
Handing Over 423 IS Children and Women
In exclusive statements to “North Press”, the Autonomous Administration declared that it has handed over about 423 IS children and women to their original countries’ government according to the International Protocol, where 130 children and women were handed over to Kosovo Government, 100 children and women, including 80 children to Kazakh government, 17 children to French government, 7 children to Sweden, 3 children to Russia, 5 children to Sudanese government, 148 children and women, including 88 children to Uzbekistan, 5 children to Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 children to Dutch government and 6 children and two women to the United States.
The number of children who were handed over to their countries is about 273 out of 423 IS women and children.
The number of IS children and women in camps inside the Autonomous Administration territories is about 30k, including 12k foreigners, 8k children, and 4k women.
Veto Against the Establishment of an International Tribunal
Analysts indicate that using Veto against the setting up of such courts is likely, especially in northern Syria due to the economic cost and some other similar reasons.
Turkey is expected to be the first country to refuse to make the tribunal in this area, as Turkey still fears any moves in which it could get any political recognition for Kurds.