LONDON // With one landmark United Nations tribunal preparing to put on trial those allegedly responsible for the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, another UN special court is entering its final lap, having set a standard of accomplishment few thought possible.
In what one jurist has called a "truly great achievement", the wanted list of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is now empty after the arrest in July of Goran Hadzic, a former Croatian Serb general accused of involvement in ethnic cleansing in Croatia.
The UN court, based in The Hague, has tried or begun proceedings arising from 161 indictments for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. No more indictments remain to be served.
High-profile cases are among those still to be decided. The summer recess over, the ICTY's first business tomorrow will be the continuing trial of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader whose alleged crimes include genocide. Later in the day, the joint prosecution of Jovica Staniši, the former head of Serbian state security, and Franko Simatovi, who led the late Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's secret police, resumes. Both are accused of involvement in the massacre of non-Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia.
The beginning of the end of the ICTY's work comes just as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also in The Hague, prepares to go the courtroom for the first time. It has indicted four members of Hizbollah for their purported involvement in the 2005 killing of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese premier. Unless they are arrested by Lebanese authorities or turn themselves, the men will be tried in absentia, sources at the tribunal said over the weekend.
There is no denying that the Lebanon and Yugoslavia tribunals - just two examples of the system of international justice that has proliferated in the past two decades - have their critics.
Some view these UN-created special courts and the permanent International Criminal Court as spendthrift institutions that are excessively politicised and biased in favour of western nations.
Those who applaud the ICTY believe, however, that as an instrument to hold leaders accountable and bring justice to victims, its track record compares favourably with the pursuit of suspected Nazi war criminals after the Second World War.
While 13 of those indicted have been acquitted, 64 have been sentenced to prison terms. The remainder have either had their indictments withdrawn or have died, or have been referred to national courts.
James Gow, a London academic who served as a prosecution adviser and expert witness in the tribunal's earlier days, believes the court can claim unrivalled success.
"Nuremberg missed [Martin] Bormann and [Adolf] Eichmann, at least, while Rwanda has several indictees outstanding," he told Reuters. "Even if not all the trials have gone well - Milosevic stands out here both because he died before the end but also because of the way it was conducted - it is a truly great achievement."
The ICTY was created in 1993 to investigate atrocities committed during fierce conflicts between Croats, Serbs, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians. Casualty estimates from all the Balkan wars from 1991 to 1995 vary from 25,000 to more than 250,000 amid suspicion that the figures have been manipulated according to partisan interests.
The tribunal claims to have "irreversibly changed the landscape of international humanitarian law and provided victims an opportunity to voice the horrors they witnessed and experienced".
The tribunal adds that in the decisions it has reached on war crimes, it has shown that high rank or political office do not provide an individual protection from prosecution.
One of the most important rulings, made in 2004, held that the killing of an estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces in 1995 amounted to genocide.
In Serbia many citizens continuing to regard alleged war criminals as national heroes while the government is eager to present itself to the world with clean hands, fit for inclusion within of the EU.
But a British peer, Lord Ashdown, a prominent centrist politician and former military commander who served as the high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006, echoes Prof Gow's acclaim for the tribunal.
"The truth about the Balkans, as elsewhere, is that you cannot have peace without justice," he said.
It was right not to pursue thousands of relatively minor war criminals, but bringing to justice the "principal architects" had been essential. Only by establishing a system of international law in the field of conflict could the world hope to navigate the probable turbulence of coming decades.
Lord Ashdown said that while atrocities were committed by all parties to the conflict, Serbs were responsible for 75 to 80 per cent.
Doubts persist. Reuters quoted one Dutch international lawyer, Geert-Jan Knoops, as expressing misgivings about the timing of the arrests of three high-profile defendants: Mr Karadzic, Mr Hadzic and Ratko Mladi, a former Bosnian Serb military commander facing charges of terror, attacks on civilians and hostage-taking. It seemed "more than a coincidence" that they should have been tracked down at a time politically and economically suitable for Serbia, he said.
Prof Gow said some Muslims feel the tribunal has not gone far or quickly enough in its efforts to punish people guilt of war crimes. However, Lord Ashdown said that while war in Bosnia was "one of the great recruiting sergeants" for Islamist activists, he was amazed at the extent to which Bosnian Muslims had rejected extremism.
The tribunal's work was scheduled to be concluded by 2014, though the date for all trials and appeals to be completed may be pushed back to the following year.
"It is not elegant sometimes," said Lord Ashdown.
"It is not tidy and does not always work in ways that satisfy everybody. But it is a major step forward in terms of the international rule of law."
foreigndesk@thenational.ae
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The biog
From: Ras Al Khaimah
Age: 50
Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years
Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'
Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'
How to come clean about financial infidelity
- Be honest and transparent: It is always better to own up than be found out. Tell your partner everything they want to know. Show remorse. Inform them of the extent of the situation so they know what they are dealing with.
- Work on yourself: Be honest with yourself and your partner and figure out why you did it. Don’t be ashamed to ask for professional help.
- Give it time: Like any breach of trust, it requires time to rebuild. So be consistent, communicate often and be patient with your partner and yourself.
- Discuss your financial situation regularly: Ensure your spouse is involved in financial matters and decisions. Your ability to consistently follow through with what you say you are going to do when it comes to money can make all the difference in your partner’s willingness to trust you again.
- Work on a plan to resolve the problem together: If there is a lot of debt, for example, create a budget and financial plan together and ensure your partner is fully informed, involved and supported.
Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Company%20profile
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Final scores
18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)
-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)
-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)
-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)
-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
