🔥 Why Do Powerful War Criminals Never Face Justice?
🔥 Why Do Powerful War Criminals Never Face Justice?
The Uncomfortable Truth of International Impunity
“In war, there are mistakes.”
Can civilian massacres be dismissed as mere mistakes?
Why is the International Criminal Court (ICC) only harsh on the weak?
■ Where Is the Power of Law? A Report on the Failure of International Justice
War crimes are not ambiguous. Since the 20th century, humanity has established clear legal standards to define and prosecute them — from the 1949 Geneva Conventions to the 1998 Rome Statute.
But in the 21st century, those laws are only enforced against the weak.
Why has the ICC become a symbol of “selective justice”?
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Most ICC defendants are deposed leaders from Africa or Eastern Europe.
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Meanwhile, the major perpetrators — the U.S., Russia, Israel — have never been indicted.
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The ICC only has jurisdiction over countries that have ratified the Rome Statute. The U.S., Israel, and Russia are not among them.
In Africa, many now mock the ICC as the “International Caucasian Court.”
■ “It Was a Mistake”: Israel and the 2006 Massacres in Lebanon
In 2006, Israel bombarded southern Lebanon, killing over 1,100 people — one-third of them children. UNICEF and Amnesty International both concluded the attacks were deliberate and systematic, not accidental.
But then-Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres responded at a Council on Foreign Relations event:
“In war, there are mistakes. Unfortunately.”
Cluster bombs resembling toys were scattered across civilian areas. Depleted uranium munitions and bunker busters created craters in residential zones. Can all this truly be excused as a “mistake”?
■ Why Are War Criminals Only Prosecuted After Losing Power?
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Slobodan Milošević (former Yugoslav President): indicted only in 2002, after his fall from power.
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Vladimir Putin: accused of war crimes in Syria and Ukraine, including the Bucha massacre. But as long as he holds power, the ICC is powerless to act.
Sitting leaders remain legally untouchable. This is the harsh reality of the current world order.
■ The U.S. and the “Hague Invasion Act”: Above the Law
The U.S. passed a law in 2002 authorizing military action to free any American held by the ICC, known as the American Service-Members’ Protection Act — or more ominously, the Hague Invasion Act.
In other words, America has declared it will never allow its personnel to be tried for war crimes.
This is the embodiment of “Impunity through Power.”
■ No Peace Without War Crime Prosecution
In 1997, then–U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited the ICTY in The Hague and said:
“Justice is essential to strengthening the rule of law. Prosecuting war criminals helps victims heal and ensures our forces can one day leave Bosnia without fear of renewed violence.”
Yet today, the world is moving backward.
War criminals remain in power, while victims are forgotten.
War crimes are rebranded as “errors.”
And international law is bent to suit the geopolitics of the strong.
🧭 Where Do We Go From Here?
If war criminals are not punished, future generations will suffer the same horrors.
A world where power shields crime is a world sliding back into barbarism.
Justice is not optional — it is the foundation of global peace.
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