Political reasons for unwillingness: Political reasons for unwillingness:A political reality is that often the attainment of justice has been sacrificed in order to achieve political compromise. Impunity has become the political price paid to secure an end to the violence of ongoing conflicts or as a means to ensure tyrannical regime changes. As explained by Bassiouni, the grim reality is that in order to obtain peace, negotiations must be held with the very leaders who frequently are the ones who committed, ordered, or allowed terrible crimes to be committed. Thus, the choice presented to negotiators is whether to have peace or justice. Indeed, in many instances of states transiting from an undemocratic and oppressive regime to a democratic one, rulers who have committed large-scale crimes will only accept to hand over power in return of a guarantee that they will not be punished (think of the 1982 Constitution which guaranteed Kenan Evren and his regime impunity). Similarly, warlords involved in civil wars will only accept to end hostilities if they know that they will not be punished. So, the compromise is to have peace now, and justice some other time, maybe. - On the other hand, another political reality is that states only act when their own interests are harmed (self-interest), whereas they tend to close an eye when breaches of basic values such as peace or human dignity are committed, unless they are affected by it. So, states other than the one where crimes have been committed might not feel any interest in devoting resources for prosecuting those responsible. In other words, unless the crimes have targeted their own territory or nationals, other states might not have an interest in investing time and energy for the prosecution of int’l. crimes.
This attitude of the international community to overlook serious violations which do not implicate their own political interests has to be condemned. Because as John Donne has put it: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main… Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions XVII (1624). This attitude of the international community to overlook serious violations which do not implicate their own political interests has to be condemned. Because as John Donne has put it: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main… Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions XVII (1624).As Jewish Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel stated: “The world rests on three pillars: on truth, on justice and on peace”. A commentary adds to this by saying that “The three are really one. If justice is realized, truth is vindicated and peace results.” Similarly, Pope Paul VI once said that “If you want peace, work for justice”. Therefore, by granting de facto immunity to international criminals, international peace is threatened and the international community as a whole is put under a risk. In other words, political reasons for unwillingness are not justified, and put the world under bigger threats.
The major benefit of having an int’l. criminal tribunal is that, at last, perpetrators of large-scale human rights violations will be under “individual criminal responsibility” (şahsi ceza sorumluluğu). The major benefit of having an int’l. criminal tribunal is that, at last, perpetrators of large-scale human rights violations will be under “individual criminal responsibility” (şahsi ceza sorumluluğu).This is very important in order to deter (caydırmak) potential similar crimes to be committed in the future. As Benjamin Ferencz, the chief prosecutor at Nuremberg said in 1947 during his closing statement at one of the Nuremberg trials: “The defendants in the dock were the cruel executioners, whose terror wrote the blackest page in human history. Death was their tool and life was their toy. If these men be immune [from punishment], then law has lost its meaning and man must live in fear.”Really, if the world is unable to punish the greatest mass killers of history, then what would law and justice stand for?
"For nearly half a century -- almost as long as the United Nations has been in existence -- the General Assembly has recognized the need to establish such a court to prosecute and punish persons responsible for crimes such as genocide. Many thought . . . that the horrors of the Second World War -- the camps, the cruelty, the exterminations, the Holocaust -- could never happen again. And yet they have. In Cambodia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Rwanda. Our time -- this decade even -- has shown us that man's capacity for evil knows no limits. Genocide . . . is now a word of our time, too, a heinous reality that calls for a historic response." -- Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General "For nearly half a century -- almost as long as the United Nations has been in existence -- the General Assembly has recognized the need to establish such a court to prosecute and punish persons responsible for crimes such as genocide. Many thought . . . that the horrors of the Second World War -- the camps, the cruelty, the exterminations, the Holocaust -- could never happen again. And yet they have. In Cambodia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Rwanda. Our time -- this decade even -- has shown us that man's capacity for evil knows no limits. Genocide . . . is now a word of our time, too, a heinous reality that calls for a historic response." -- Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General
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