Finally, and in the background so to speak, depending on the
reality of developments, there would be international and foreign
fora operating on the basis of treaties, customary international law
and the principles of extra-territorial and universal jurisdiction to
deal with any of the main culprits who may have tried to escape
culpability one way or another, including moving abroad. Naturally,
this simple model is no more than just that - a starting point for
detailed and specific explorations within the framework of the
numerous issues raised at the symposium and elsewhere.
In addition to the concerns already mentioned there are others,
which will directly impact on the relationship amongst these
different potential ‘justice organs.’ For example, because of the
fundamental legal principle against self-incrimination, how does
one get perpetrators to ‘confess’ to a TJRC if what they say is
thereafter going to be used in evidence in criminal prosecutions?
Yet another difficulty relates to the actual identification of
perpetrators where the state has used terrorist gangs of ‘warveterans’ and the youth militias, especially where these have been
brought into communities from other areas precisely to disguise
who they are, giving rise to the potentially complicated evidentiary
issue of command responsibility. Experience also shows that it is
not a straightforward matter to invoke the principles of extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction, and to enforce international
criminal law, given the continued existence (although the number
is steadily shrinking) of states offering safe-havens.
7. THE FUTURE: SOME ISSUES
For many years Zimbabwe civil society and international NGOs
have not only tried to document the gross and systematic human
rights violations that have occurred, but they have striven to
publicize them nationally and internationally, and to go further: to
analyze the reasons for the violations and the fundamental
structural and other weaknesses in the legal system, the body
politic and the institutions of Government and administration
generally, and to propose solutions and reforms. The current
crisis itself, in part grew out of civil society’s efforts to galvanize
25
Select target paragraph3
Add to table of contents