Originally published on the CGS blog on July 18, 2007.
A few years ago I was talking to a former high level official from the Clinton Administration about Pol Pot. Specifically we were discussing why he was never brought to trial for his crimes in the weeks before he committed suicide. The official told me that there was a real desire on the part of the Administration to bring Pol Pot to trial in the U.S. but that our criminal code was far too narrow to allow for a prosecution to occur. The official correctly noted that the law as it stood only allowed for the prosecution of individuals who have committed genocide within the U.S.
I have been working with the IL&J community to push for this gap to be plugged for a number of years. Additionally we have been pushing to amend the U.S. criminal code to ensure that all individuals who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity can be prosecuted in federal court. This type of complimentarity with international law and specifically the Rome Statute is important from a leadership perspective – it shows a commitment to core international legal norms.
The good news re: the prosecution of genocide is that the Senate passed a bill sponsored by Senator Durbin titled the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007. The bill seeks to ensure that the U.S. will be able to prosecute future Pol Pot’s. It has a companion version in the House, H.R. 2489, which seems to be stalled at the moment. I really hope we can get this bill passed ASAP – it is sponsored by Rep. Berman and Rep. Pence – and it just makes sense to get this done. Let’s get this to the President for signature by the fall!
