News item | 15-05-2023 | 8:30 pm
Perpetrators of international crimes should not go unpunished. Certainly not for the victims. Tackling these crimes requires effective international cooperation in investigation and prosecution.
That is what Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said today during the opening of the conference in Slovenia. Together with 5 other countries, the Netherlands is the initiator of the Multilateral Convention on Legal Assistance and Extradition for International Crimes, which strengthens international cooperation.
Minister Yesilgöz-Zegerius:
“Virtually everyone would agree: atrocities such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes should not go unpunished. Anywhere in the world. A decisive and effective legal framework is desperately needed. Victims and surviving relatives deserve our full attention and our support. Their stories are heartbreaking. The Yazidi women who had to watch their husbands and sons killed before being subjected to the most heinous crimes themselves. In conversations with them I was struck by their incredible strength and perseverance. I have great admiration for this and experience it as a clear assignment: fight for us, do not forget our stories and make sure that others are spared this suffering.”
Special role of the Netherlands
As the host country of various international tribunals and international courts, the Netherlands has a special role and responsibility in preventing impunity for persons who have committed international crimes. The fight against impunity is therefore particularly important for the Netherlands. For that reason, the Netherlands has a special team of detectives and public prosecutors who bring these crimes to the Dutch court. A battle that is more topical than ever. Ukraine has been at war for 14 months with heavy fighting still going on, while investigations into war crimes have already started in Ukraine and several other countries. The treaty is crucial in order to hold the perpetrators of those crimes really liable.
Lead group
What makes it difficult is that the investigation and prosecution of international crimes are primarily the responsibility of individual countries, while at the same time suspects, victims and evidence often cross national borders. To be able to bring these cases before a national court, international cooperation is desperately needed. The legal framework for this is currently incomplete. For example, cooperation takes place on the basis of bilateral agreements or outdated treaties. It is therefore very fragmented and therefore not practical and effective. That is why the Netherlands, together with Argentina, Belgium, Mongolia, Senegal and Slovenia – ‘the leading group’ – took the initiative in 2011 to arrive at this treaty. The Netherlands has always played a leading role in this. The treaty will soon provide a legal – and modern – framework for international cooperation in the field of mutual legal assistance, extradition and enforcement of sentences.
Follow-up
Combating impunity for international crimes is the core of the Multilateral Convention on Legal Assistance and Extradition for International Crimes (MVRUIM), which is supported by eighty countries. The MVRUIM initiative is at an advanced stage: the draft text will be negotiated in Slovenia from 15 to 26 May and the text is expected to be finalized. The aim of the Netherlands is for the treaty to be signed in the first quarter of 2024 by the ministers of as many countries as possible in the Netherlands. After that, the member countries themselves still have to get to work for the treaty to enter into force. In the Netherlands, for example, a parliamentary debate and an implementation procedure will follow.