David L. Phillips Quotes
There is an inherent tension between the role of amnesties … and the goal of accountability .... Amnesties encourage ex-combatants to disarm and demobilize, advancing the goal of peace in the short term while doing the least possible harm to the goals of truth, justice, reparation and reform – transitional justice values that are contribute to durable peace in the long term. Some view amnesties as sources of impunity that compromise transitional justice by removing the possibility of criminal accountability. Amnesties covering the most serious crimes may also be seen as undermining victim's rights. In such instances, amnesties can damage public confidence in the rule of law.
David L. Phillips, Director, Peace-building and Rights Program, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, Turkey, The Kurds And The Imrali Peace Process: An Historic Opportunity, Remarks, European Parliament, Brussels, December 5, 2013
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
There had been a coup in Fiji which had been put down after a few weeks. There was thought of not reopening the fissures of the society by identifying and trying the plotters and participants in the coup. The Senator did not agree.
His comment was particularly critical since he had been an early supporter of the military takeover of the government. See {595250}.
Referring to the Serbian atrocities in Bosnia:
South Africa, with the fall of apartheid, instead of arresting, trying, and sentencing the worst of the old regime, elected a truth commission approach instead.
Turkey, under the control of the triumvirate of the 3 Young Turks had massacred almost all of the Armenian population in the area claimed by Turkey. At the end of WWI, there were many demands that those who ordered the policy of a Turkish genocide and those who carried it out by brought to justice—tried and punished. The Sultan had done little if anything to stop the slaughters although he was very weak, Turkey under the Young Turks had also picked the wrong side and allied with the Germans. The Sultan and his Grand Vizier were trying to pick up the pieces and maintain the Ottoman Empire as best they could despite they the fact that they lost control of much of their vast territory. At the Paris Peace Conference, the Grand Vizier virtually admitted the crimes and committed the Turkish government to determining the guilty and bringing them to justice. He actually had 50 of the worst offenders arrested (See {620595}.). However, there were a few tried and one governor of a province was hanged and a few others received short jail sentences. Talaat, the worst of The Young Turks regarding the genocide, escaped to Germany. But he was tracked by a surviving Armenian who assassinated Talaat. The assassin was acquitted by a sympathetic German court which ruled that the extermination of the assassin’s family had been so traumatic that temporary insanity relieved the assassin of criminal responsibility.
Hissine Habre was the President and Dictator of Chad. He was one of the worst war criminal and murderer in the world. He and the other DDS policemen and agents were trained by the United States.
David L. Phillips (born Nov 19, 1938) was a Massachusetts politician who served as the 51st Mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts.
