How Will The Hariri Tribunal Judges Be Appointed?
The UN secretary General outlines the process in which the Judges in the Hariri tribunal will be appointed.
Will ours be as diverse?
Since the Hariri Tribunal will have a certain amount of Lebanese Judges in it, it was expected that selecting them would be an explosive process in this polarized country. M.P. Walid Jumblat recently said that the “mother of all battles” was the selection of the Lebanese Judges.
This in mind, the United Nations came up with a selection process that it hoped would focus more on merit and less on politics. Mr. Ban Ki Moon outlined this process:
The judges will be appointed by the United Nations from a list of 12 nominated by the Lebanese government. Lebanon on July 17 submitted such a list, which will remained sealed until the selection process begins.Ban said a panel of experts would “interview the candidates during the autumn and I hope to appoint the judges by the end of 2007.”
In other words, the final selection of Lebanese judges will be at the discretion of the United Nations, not the Lebanese political system. Hopefully, this would remove the issue from the Lebanese political tag of war.
But that doesn’t mean the Tribunal is no longer used for politics. Back in Lebanon, our Minister of Justice Mr. Charels Rizk is pitching himself as the Tribunal’s presidential candidate. After an upbeat progress report, Mr. Rizk, an eligible Maronite, said:
Translation (mine):
The Tribunal is the most pressing issue. It is therefore crucial that the President be cognizant of the subject matter so that the Tribunal would be a justice seeking institution, not a political instrument to get at this or that regime.
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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.
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Aoun should learn a thing or two if he wants to get anywhere… You suck up to the majority, not to the minority when you want to become president at all costs :-)
Charles in the mean time is playing it by the book.
My reading of the quote is that he’s trying to suck up to both the Majority AND Syria (not an instrument to get at this or that regime).
I think he’s being rather pathetic.
Sorry, I don’t agree with you Mustapha on your opinion on Rizk. “I think he’s being rather pathetic.”
He is trying to be fair and is stating his opinion. Remember when he was selected as a minister he was the “president’s man” but later Lahoud said that: “he changed the location of his gun!”
Honestly, with all the mistrust (this is the best civilized word I can use) of Syria, the tribunal’s goal is to find who killed Harriri and the other marytres so they will get the proper punishment! The purpose is not to get after a regime (unless the regime is the guilty person!!!)
I thought Rizk was next in line after Pierre Gemayil for his “treason”. I still think his life is in danger. Anyway he prooved that he is a middle man who listens to his conscious and that no one can force him to make any choice that his logic can’t accept. I don’t think he will become president because the opposition hate him as much as Lahoud and Syria do.
**Upon the Request of Kheireddine, all his comments for this post will be deleted**