UN General Assembly Looks at Skewed International Criminal Justice

Rick Gladstone has a story today, "Serb Defends U.N. Meeting Boycotted by the U.S.," about the current president of the United Nations General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, and the thematic debate held on the role of international criminal justice. The United States, Canada and Jordan boycotted the event.

“Some people were obviously uncomfortable with this debate,” [Jeremic] said. “But my opinion was there should be no taboo subjects, no forbidden subjects in the General Assembly.”

He organized the meeting after two Croat generals convicted of crimes against Serbs were freed last November in a tribunal appeals ruling. That reversal, which was considered a surprise, embittered Serbs who already resented what they regarded as the court’s agenda to prosecute Serbs more aggressively than other ethnic groups in the 1990s Balkans conflicts that fractured Yugoslavia. Court officials have denied any bias in their prosecutions. 

Mr. Jeremic, who is considered a possible future leader of his country, as well as a candidate for secretary general when Mr. Ban’s second term expires at the end of 2016, has made no secret of his antipathy toward the tribunal, which is 20 years old. 

“I’m not shying away from criticizing this court again,” Mr. Jeremic said. “We’re talking about a court of convictions for Serbs that accumulates to about 1,000 years in prison.” At the same time, he said, it also has “convicted nobody for inciting crimes committed against Serbs in Croatia.”

Video of Jeremic's press conference yesterday can be found here on UN Web TV. The debate on the international criminal justice can be found on UN Web TV as well. It appears in multiple video postings. Here is the opening statement.