Imagine, for a moment, that the
State has polluted your water with toxic levels of
arsenic, or robbed you of your family land, or disappeared your brother, or assassinated the members of your
community. Where would you seek
redress? To what forum would you take a
case of that nature?
If
a society’s legal system still functions properly to some extent, you might
find “relief” in that society’s courts.
But, in a society where the legal system no longer functions - where the
legal system has broken down completely - one cannot hope for justice in that
society’s courts. Instead, new spaces
for such cases are needed - like the proceedings held by international
courts.
International
courts generally come in two different kinds.
First, there are the courts whose jurisdiction States have recognized by
treaty or statute. Then, there are
“opinion tribunals,” whose jurisdiction States have not recognized. Currently, two opinion tribunals of substantial
weight are being conducted in the world today: (i) the Russell Tribunal, which
just completed its final session investigating allegations of human rights
abuses in Palestine; and (ii) the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, which is
currently holding hearings on allegations of human rights abuses throughout
Mexico.
This
article is the first in a series of articles that will discuss the work of the
Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in Mexico - its history, structure, goals, role as
a community-organizing tool, and legal findings. This Tribunal provides the opportunity to fuse
legal advocacy with grassroots movements, meaning it is a legal experiment with
great potential both for organizing communities and justice advocates alike.
“Public
Opinion” Courts
The Russell
Tribunal and the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal are “public opinion courts,”
convened by citizens who seek a forum in which to present legal complaints,
usually against a government or State-supported actors. Because they are “public opinion” courts,
they do not have legal status or the power to enforce their judgments. Nevertheless, due to the prominence and
respect accorded to members of these Tribunals, their pronouncements (decided
based on evidence presented in court) exert social pressure on the State to
take action against those found guilty in Tribunal proceedings
For communities
charging the State with human rights violations, these Tribunals serve as an
alternative to the State courts.
Presenting a case against the State in a domestic court may prove
impossible, dangerous, or pointless.
These opinion tribunals are a grassroots solution to counteract the
impediments faced when bringing a case against the State in its own court.
History
of the Russell Tribunal and the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal
After the Vietnam
War, British philosopher Bertrand Russell and French philosopher Jean-Paul
Sartre joined other notable public figures to form the Russell Tribunal. The original purpose of the Russell Tribunal
was to provide a forum in which witnesses could testify about war crimes
committed during the Vietnam War, particularly war crimes committed by United
States’ military forces.
The Russell
Tribunal began its work in 1966 and 1967 by holding hearings on the Vietnam War
in various cities in Europe. After the
hearings on the Vietnam War, the Russell Tribunal held hearings from 1973
through 1976 on human rights violations in Latin America. After the Latin American hearings, the
Russell Tribunal did not convene for twenty-five years. Thereafter, the Russell Tribunal held a
series of hearings on various subjects: a hearing in 2001 on Human Rights in
Psychiatry; a hearing in 2004 on war crimes in Iraq; and, beginning in 2009,
hearings on Palestine, lasting from 2009-2013.[1]
During the quarter
century that the Russell Tribunal was inactive, Italian Senator Lelio Basso
sought to continue the work of opinion tribunals on a permanent basis.[2] He sought to identify and to publicize cases
of systematic violations of fundamental human rights, particularly those in
which legislation failed to protect the people facing oppression.[3] Concerning the legitimacy of public opinion
courts, Basso stated:
“The needs of public conscience
can become a recognized source of law [...] and a tribunal that emanates
directly from the popular consciousness reflects an idea that will make
headway: institutionalized powers and the people, from whom the former claim
legitimacy in actual fact tend to diverge and only a truly popular initiative
can try to bridge the gap between people and power.”[4]
In
1979, Basso founded the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) in Italy on the basis
of principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of
Peoples. The Tribunal headquarters
remain in Italy. Currently, the Permanent
Peoples’ Tribunal comprises more than 130 members of high moral
reputation. Its President is Salvatore
Senese, and its Secretary General is Gianni Tognoni.
To
date, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal has held thirty-six sessions all over the
world, including recent sessions in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Colombia.[5] The Tribunal is currently holding “audiences”
(its term for its sessions or hearings) in Mexico, which began in 2011 and will
end in 2014.[6]
Permanent
Peoples’ Tribunal in Mexico
The
current hearings of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal are taking place throughout
communities in Mexico. Although the
international press has given attention to the drug war in Mexico, the scope of
human rights violations in Mexico goes far beyond drugs and cartels. The international press has allowed this
larger scope of human rights violations in Mexico to pass largely
unnoticed. The hearings of the Permanent
Peoples’ Tribunal in Mexico allow communities suffering injustices to bring the
facts about the injustices and the intensity of their suffering to the world’s
attention.
The
next article in this series will examine the structure and the work of the Permanent
Peoples’ Tribunal in Mexico.
[1] Russell Tribunal on Palestine, available at http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/ (last
visited on March 8, 2013).
[2] Janine Odink, The
Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, 11 Neth. Q. Hum. Rts. 229-232 (1993).
[3] Lelio and Lisli Basso Foundation, International
Section, Introduction, available at http://www.internazionaleleliobasso.it/?page_id=207&lang=en
(last visited on March 8, 2013).
[4] Lelio and Lisli Basso Foundation, International
Section, Introduction, available at
http://www.internazionaleleliobasso.it/?page_id=207&lang=en (last
visited on March 8, 2013).
[5] Lelio and Lisli Basso Foundation, International
Section, Introduction, available at
http://www.internazionaleleliobasso.it/?page_id=207&lang=en (last
visited on March 8, 2013).
[6] Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos México, available at http://www.tppmexico.org/
(last visited on March 8, 2013).
