Just over a decade ago, at a Peace Conference at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005, which was attended by more than 2,000 people from all five continents of the world, the Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalise War (the Initiative) was born.
Following the historical event, a group of committed people started the difficult task of putting the Initiative into action.
Two years later, in February 2007, a second international conference was held at PWTC, themed “Expose War Crimes, Criminalise War”.
The crowd was larger, approximately 3,000 people. It was from this conference that the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War (KLFCW) was born. I was invited to become a member of its Board of Trustees. The foundation drew up its Charter, under which three organs came into being:
THE Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (the Commission), which acts as an investigative arm of the foundation;
THE Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal (the Tribunal), which acts as a Tribunal of Conscience with its own rules of evidence and procedures consistent with the highest standards comparable to the International Courts of Justice and other national courts of law; and,
THE Legal Team, headed by the chief prosecutor.
Part one of the Charter sets out the composition and powers of the Commission, the jurisdiction of the Tribunal and the definitions of certain terms, such as “crimes against peace”, “crimes against humanity”, “genocide”, and “war crimes”. Part two sets out in detail the rules of procedure and evidence of the Tribunal.
Over the last 10 years, the Commission held several sessions, hearing complaints from victims of armed conflicts and testimony from former detainees of Guantanamo Bay and medically-trained personnel, who were involved in treating victims of the war in Iraq, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon (the massacre in Sabra and Shatila).
The chief prosecutor subsequently filed charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against several individuals, as well as the State of Israel.
The Tribunal, an international panel of seven judges, heard testimonies from witnesses and legal submissions by the prosecution and the Amicus Curiae teams (the latter representing the accused). In all the three cases heard by the Tribunal (affecting the wars in Iraq, Gaza and the massacre in Sabra and Shatila), the accused were found guilty and declared war criminals. The full record of these proceedings were submitted to the United Nations, the International Criminal Court at the Hague and the heads of government of several states.
Last year, on April 18 and 19, KLFCW hosted another international forum to take stock of what it had achieved and to formulate a road map as to what it should do in the next decade to take the quest to criminalise war to the next level.
On the first day of the forum, themed “Peace with Justice: Constructing the Road Map”, speakers deliberated on proxy wars, torture, regime change, false flag operations, the use of drones on civilians and the road map ahead for KLFCW. On the second day, former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin delivered his keynote address on “Engaging the Young to Criminalise War and Energise Peace”.
As part of its strategies to engage the younger generation to criminalise war and energise peace, KLFCW had, three years earlier, established Criminalise War Clubs (CWCs) in secondary schools after obtaining approval from the Education Ministry on Oct 19, 2012. The CWC Charter was officially launched on Nov 22 the same year.
The first CWC was established by the students of Kolej Tunku Khursiah on April 11, 2013, officiated by a representative of the Education Ministry, with members of the Board of Trustees of KLFCW in attendance. The second CWC was established by Cempaka International School on Sept 25, 2013. The third was by Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah on June 20, 2014. As of January, more than 20 CWCs have been established in secondary schools. Now, steps are being taken to establish CWCs in colleges and universities abroad.
As part of its strategy to engage the younger generation, KLFCW will be hosting the first CWC International Symposium on March 26 with the theme, “Coalition of Younger Generation Say ‘NO TO WAR’ ”.
Sumitero Taniguchi, a survivor of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki, will share his experience while Fumie Kakita, deputy secretary-general of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council, will speak on “The Role of the Second-Generation Survivors to Stop War”.
The road ahead to criminalise war may take several decades. It may be extremely difficult at times, but it is a worthy cause that must be pursued. If mankind does not end wars, wars may end mankind. It was Plato who said, “Only the dead have seen the end of war”.
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime — Ernest Hemingway.
Salleh Buang served the Attorney-General’s Chambers before he left for private practice, the corporate sector and then, the academia