The Charles Taylor verdict: a blow against impunity

Thursday’s historic verdict against Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone, may have direct and unexpected relevance in Canada.

By coincidence, Thursday was also the day the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would hear the case of Rachidi Ekanza Ezokola, a diplomat with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ezokola, the DRC’S No. 2 diplomat at the United Nations in New York, fled to Canada in 2008 with his wife and their eight children, and claimed refugee status. The family lives in Montreal.

Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board ruled that Ezokola, as a person believed to have been complicit in crimes against humanity, was not eligible for refugee status. Canada has rejected 74 such claimants between 2008 and 2011. Ezokola appealed, but a Federal Court of Appeal ruling last year rejected his appeal. Judge Marc Noel wrote that if a senior official remains in his or her position, “without protest and continuing to defend the interests of his or her government while being aware of the crimes committed by this government” the official may be “complicit with the government.”

If the Supreme Court uses this case to set out new guidelines by which to assess complicity, it will become part of a legal trend driven by international courts.

The days of accused war-criminal leaders and their support staff fleeing to France’s Côte d’azur, or even to Montreal, look to be numbered. Taylor has become the first head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal in 65 years. He was found guilty of aiding and abetting 11 counts of war crimes.

The Taylor verdict represents a substantial step forward for international justice: even if a state is too destabilized or weak to put one-time rulers on trial, there exist international mechanisms to do it.

No country in today’s world is immune from the pressure of dealing with alleged war criminals or lesser figures in corrupt regimes. In the past few months, Canada has had to handle not only Ezokola, but also Belhassen Trabelsi, brother-in-law of deposed Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Rules of engagement are needed and should be welcomed.