India asks nations to stengthen justice systems

Stressing that tribunals established by the UN cannot prosecute all perpetrators of crime in a given situation, India has called on the global community to help strengthen the national justice systems by building capacity, training and mentoring local judicial personnel.

"Creating effective and lasting judicial institutions that uphold the rule of law is essential for maintaining peace," Indian delegate Ravi Shankar Prasad, member of Parliament, told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

Intervening in the debate on International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, he said prosecution has to accomplish several goals -- such as punishing the guilty, deterring future offences and fostering overall respect for the rule of law in instances where cases grow out of national traumas including civil war and repression.

Even though international prosecutors can achieve the first goal of punishing the guilty, they are not equipped to deliver the others, especially promotion of national, ethnic and political reconciliation, he said.

International prosecutions undertaken by foreign judicial systems or tribunals with little or no connection to the perpetrators, victims or offences, are invariably "decoupled" from the political, social and economic context of the affected country, Prasad pointed out.

He questioned the Security Council's power in setting up international criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, stating that the General Assembly was the right forum to set up such courts.

Stating that the council violated the legal principle of 'you cannot give what you don't have,' Prasad said since the council was not assigned any judicial functions under the Charter it could not set up a subsidiary body.