Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Downplaying
Atrocities? Trump Plan to Close 'War Crimes Office' Sparks Concern
The US 'is essentially downgrading the importance of
accountability for the commission of atrocity crimes'
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to shut down the U.S.'s
office dedicated to advising his department on issues related to war crimes,
crimes against humanity, and genocide, according to a new report by Foreign Policy.
"This sends a strong signal to perpetrators of mass
atrocities that the United States is not watching you anymore."
—David Scheffer, former diplomat and former U.S. official, told Foreign
Policy that Todd Buchwald, who currently heads the Office of Global
Criminal Justice, was recently informed he would be reassigned to the
department’s office of legal affairs office, and other office staffers could be
sent to the department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The
office closure was first reported on Monday by Just
Security, a blog dedicated to examining U.S. national security law and
policy.
Northwestern University professor David Scheffer, who was the
first U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, characterized the
potential move as deeply troubling. "This is a very harsh signal to the
rest of the world that the United States is essentially downgrading the
importance of accountability for the commission of atrocity crimes,"
Scheffer said. "This sends a strong signal to
perpetrators of mass atrocities that the United States is not watching you
anymore."
The office was established two decades ago, in the aftermath of
genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, and according to its State Department's webpage,
"helps formulate U.S. policy on the prevention of, responses to, and
accountability for mass atrocities," by advising U.S. officials and
foreign allies "on the appropriate use of a wide range of transitional
justice mechanisms, including truth and reconciliation commissions,
lustrations, and reparations, in addition to judicial processes."
The supposed shuttering of this office could offer insight into
the Trump administration's priorities for foreign policy, and follows reports
of possible U.S.-backed war crimes committed against civilians in Iraq, during
the U.S.-led coalition's victory over the Islamic State (ISIS) in Mosul,
as Common Dreams reported last week.
Regardless of this office's fate, it is just one piece in
Tillerson's plans for department-wide reorganization.
As Colum Lynch writes in Foreign Policy:
The
decision to close the office comes at a time when America’s top diplomat has
been seeking to reorganize the State Department to concentrate on what he sees
as key priorities: pursuing economic opportunities for American businesses and
strengthening U.S. military prowess. Those changes are coming at the expense of
programs that promote human rights and fight world poverty, which have been
targeted for steep budget cuts.
A State Department spokesperson acknowledged the department's
ongoing "redesign initiative" but would not confirm or deny any
details, including whether the war crimes office will close.
This restructuring update also follows reports of a letter, sent to Tillerson
Sunday, signed by more than 50 former diplomats and foreign policy experts who
criticized a White House proposal recommending that the U.S.'s refugee
office—the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration—relocate to the Department
of Homeland Security. The letter outlined potential repercussions for the
U.S.'s diplomatic influence, as well as concerns that DHS has neither the
resources nor the capacity to address the global refugee crisis.
Late Monday, the New York Times reported that U.S. embassies received a
cable disclosing that Tillerson had hired two consulting firms—Deloitte and
Insigniam—to assist with the State Department's restructuring. The Times said
Tillerson is "expected to come up with a reorganization plan by the end of
the year and begin putting it to work next year," noting that the
"unusually long process" reflects the degree to which the department
could be overhauled.
Tillerson has been critical of the department's current
structure, and commissioned a survey of State employees, compiled by Insigniam for $1.1 million.
As the Wall Street Journal, which reviewed the findings earlier
this month, reported: "Many of the more than 35,000
State Department and USAID employees responding to the survey indicated
longtime frustration with the way the agencies function, including poor
technology and duplicative and redundant processes that make frequent
workarounds necessary."
However, the survey "comes as the Trump administration has
yet to fill scores of senior State Department positions, which current and
former officials say has hampered decision making," the Journal reported.
State Department employees expressed concerns about both Trump
and Tillerson's leadership, with the report noting that "People do not speak
optimistically about the future.... The absence of a clear vision of the future
allows room for speculation and rumor about what the future could bring, such
as further USAID integration into [the Department of State] or the
militarization of foreign policy.
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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