France's war crimes reform
by
Fergus Hanson
-
8 January 2010 1:00PM
Last year the UK moved to update its war crimes legislation to make it less likely that accused individuals could escape justice. France has just announced its own reforms in this area, with the Government to:
...set up a new panel to try cases of genocide and war crimes committed in France or abroad. The new court would speed up the way genocide cases are tried where the suspect is on French territory but the process involves several jurisdictions. The unit is to include linguists and specialists with historical knowledge.
The Australian Government is still to move on its election promise to close legislative loopholes in this area, but developments in both of these countries, as well as others like Canada, the US and The Netherlands, should help spark a few ideas.
