2024 in Focus: Holding War Criminals to Account in Britain
By Rupert Skilbeck, REDRESS Director
Britain has been at the forefront of countries in denouncing Russian war crimes in Ukraine and calling for accountability. But would a Russian general who has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine be arrested and put on trial if he showed up at London’s Heathrow airport? The answer, currently, is no.
English law recognises a principle known as universal jurisdiction, which permits the courts of any country to hold trials for crimes that “shock the conscience of mankind”, such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, no matter where they occur. But legal and practical challenges have meant that only three people have ever been convicted of such crimes in Britain, with the last conviction secured almost 20 years ago.
Britain lags far behind countries such as Germany and France that have recently put war criminals on trial, securing convictions of Islamic State fighters for crimes against humanity, henchmen of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s dictator, for torture, and Rwandan fighters for genocide.
Last year, we published the report Global Britain, Global Justice with the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which examined the obstacles for prosecuting universal jurisdiction cases in the UK.
A main obstacle is that Britain does not allow prosecutions for most international crimes unless the suspect is a British national or resident. This keeps Russian generals and henchmen of the Syrian dictator out of reach from the British police. Another key obstacle is that Britain has traditionally granted “special mission immunity” to foreign officials visiting the country, which has afforded them with a “get-out-of-jail-free” card, even when they have been suspected of committing international crimes.
Among the report’s recommendations is the call for the UK to remove the nationality and residence requirements for prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, so that any suspect present in the UK can be prosecuted. Since the report was published, we have seen some positive developments, including renewed efforts in Parliament to make Britain a hostile territory – and not a safe haven – for perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humanity, with the introduction of two private members bills to remove the nationality and residence requirement.
Photo: Reuters/Mohammed Badra