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)تیعوشم نادقف و قوقح نارحب اب هلباقم، هطوشم و هعوشم خیرات لدج رد ( نوناق تیمکاح و سیاسا نوناق ثحب

I am not talking about those who do sexually assault one woman but unleash a
campaign of systematic rape that targets hundreds or thousands of women and
girls.
I am not talking about those who do murder just one person, but through

unimaginable wave after wave of killing carry out genocide intended to
exterminate and eliminate an entire people.
We have not lived in a world where those despicable criminals have been at the
front of the line of those facing justice. Quite the contrary. They have not even
been in the line.
They have won wars, overthrown governments and achieved and held onto
power on the backs of those crimes. They have amassed fortunes and enormous
economic benefit on the backs of those crimes.

And for far too long that has been, and largely still is, the accepted status quo.
Not without exceptions, such as the Nuremburg trials that held some Nazi war
criminals accountable in the years immediately following World War II. But until
recently those exceptions were very, very few in number.
Even when a leader responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes was deposed or pushed or encouraged to step down, justice did not
follow. At the time when it might seem most viable, even then justice was

nowhere to be seen.
Instead the focus was usually on negotiating some place of comfortable, even
luxurious refuge for the deposed dictator or exiled general, including in the south
of France, untouched by the courts and able to enjoy millions of plundered and
embezzled dollars.
So has it been any surprise that human rights violations, including those
violations that amount to what we often term mass atrocities – genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes – have continued apace, in all corners of the

world?
Of course it is no surprise. Why would that not be the case? If impunity rather
than justice reigns, if there is nothing to lose and everything to be gained, what
is there to deter genocidaires and perpetrators of crimes against humanity and
war crimes?
That is not to suggest that impunity is the sole cause of or obstacle to human

rights protection. Clearly not. Human rights violations are committed, tolerated
and aided and abetted for many reasons, including greed, geopolitics, history,
culture, traditions, misogyny, racism and simply because of individual
personalities. But even with all of those other factors, impunity is inextricably
intertwined and certainly does nothing to dissuade abuse.

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