PM may face war crime charges By James Madden March 18, 2003
JOHN Howard stands to lose more than the next election if he commits Australian troops to Iraq. He could also find himself facing charges of war crimes, according to international law expert Gillian Triggs.
Professor Triggs said yesterday it was possible that soldiers and political leaders from the "coalition of the willing" could be charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court if the invasion went ahead without UN approval.
"It's a far-fetched scenario that John Howard would come before the ICC, as the Attorney-General would first have to agree to his extradition," said Professor Triggs, co-director of Melbourne University's Institute for International and Comparative Law.
"But it's possible that if he loses the next election, a Labor attorney-general could decide that Howard should have to defend himself against charges of war crimes."
Only those countries that ratified the introduction of the ICC would be subject to charges. Australia was one of 60 countries that signed the statute of Rome last year, affiliating themselves with the ICC.
However, Iraq and the US remain outside the jurisdiction of the ICC, having not signed the agreement.
Professor Triggs was one of 43 experts in international law and human rights to put their names to an article, published in Sydney and Melbourne newspapers last month, which claimed that a pre-emptive strike on Iraq would be illegal.
However, 21 prominent legal figures have attacked that suggestion on the Opinion page of The Australian today.
"An invasion of Iraq is legal for two reasons. There are existing UN resolutions that allow for an attack, and secondly, for reasons of self-defence," said co-author Stephen Hall, associate professor of law at the City University of Hong Kong.
