With the perpetrators of these obscene acts of torture and politically motivated killings free to boast about their heinous deeds, does this not mean that humanism has failed to make and impact on modern times? The Nazi-inspired Holocaust preceded these events in Indonesia by only a few decades and yet the outcries against that barbarism failed to influence the progress of these equally barbaric and heartless acts. Subsequent to the Indonesian killing spree we have the tacit approval by the Phillipines President of the murder of drug dealers. What will it take for Humanism to triumph and make human beings treat each other with dignity and respect? Should not the powers of the World Court in the Hague be extended and empowered to address these issues of gross disrespect for Human Rights? Could the United Nations not force perpetrators to stand trial, thereby removing them from the false protection of corrupt governments? That would require international arrest warrants to be respected and enforceable in all countries, albeit by force; but entering a sovereign state to arrest suspects against their will, or that of their government is against current International Law provisos. Would these Laws need to change also?
2 thoughts on “Does the documentary “The Art of Killing” signify the futility of Humanism?”
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This post definitely raises some interesting questions! As part of my study of international criminal law, I answered a question regarding the politicisation of the International Criminal Court. It does appear that many atrocities go untouched by the court, such as those in your example and in North Korea, whereas others (Sudan being the prime example) are interfered with when there is no need. Sudan were repairing things within their own country when the UN Security Council referred the situation to the ICC and caused great upset through doing so.
It seems that the reason the ICC does not get involved is because it would not be politically advantageous to – the situation in DPRK has been dire for many decades and has continued to be since then Court’s inception in 2002 whereupon their jurisdiction began. It is also the case that the court has so far only prosecuted Africans and Middle Eastern natives, something that has lead to cries of discrimination and view that the ICC only gets involved with those countries it deems to be squabbling children. DPRK posed too much of a threat to world peace, and still does to some extent even with the removal of their nuclear weapons. The US have also committed war crimes and have failed to be prosecuted due to their large number of international immunity agreements and place on the UN Security Council. They effective remain untouchable.
A very interesting comment! Regarding third party, international involvement to force accountability, I do wonder whether this can be seen as another grave failing from the UN due to the geographical location of the atrocities. Such a lack of involvement from the organization reminds me of how the Rwandan genocide was dealt with. It’s common knowledge that Kofi Annan, who was UN General Secretary at the time, had information regarding the genocide before the fact, yet no international intervention took place. It has, and can continue to be argued, that one reason why the UN did not intervene can be attributed to a lack of western interest.
One could definitely argue that the structure and operation of the UN is extremely western facing- the permanent 5 amounting to an outdated relic of the immediate aftermath of WW2. To me, it feels as though the current structure of the UN respects the upholds the humanity and dignity of western citizens, but fails to take equal measures for situations outside of their immediate sphere of influence. This disparity of action, which seems wholly dependent on geographical location, is what needs to be accounted for if we are to re-imagine our current systems – and I’d like to think the global community can, and will do better!