Rights group hails Belgian arrest warrant for foreign minister

The New York-based group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has rejected claims that an international warrant issued by Belgium for the DRC foreign minister, Yerodia Abdoulaye Ndombasi, constitutes a violation of international law. “Human Rights Watch strongly supports the Belgian law and the principle of ‘universal jurisdiction’ that underlies it,” the organisation said in a statement on Thursday. The warrant charges the minister with war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to comments he made inciting ethnic hatred. “The Belgian law is part of a growing trend towards accountability for human rights crimes,” HRW said. “Prosecutions based on universal jurisdiction are an essential part of the emerging system of international justice. They help to break down the wall of immunity with which tyrants and torturers protect themselves in their own countries.”

Furthermore, HRW stressed, war crimes and crimes against humanity “are taking place right now in the DRC”. “An international justice mechanism urgently needs to be set up in order to hold accountable those from all sides in the civil war who are responsible for serious crimes.” The statement added that one of the main reasons international law provided for universal jurisdiction was to ensure there was no “safe haven” for those guilty of the most serious crimes.