US double standards astounding

THE BOMBING of a hospital in Afghanistan run by Doctors Without Borders, resulting in the death and maiming of dozens of medical staff and patients, is a classic example of the gross hypocrisy and unfairness on the international stage.

The Americans have given various flimsy excuses. First they said it was merely collateral damage. Then they said it was an unfortunate mistake and then blamed the Afghan government for the atrocity.

Doctors Without Borders staff are outraged and put the blame solely on the Americans.

They say they have regularly advised all combatants of the location of their hospital and say it is inexplicable that a so-called mistake could have happened. They suspect the Americans assumed some anti- American patients were also being treated at the hospital and took a terrible revenge.

Doctors’ ethics oblige them to treat all patients, regardless of their political persuasion, and there is no excuse for a hospital to be attacked.

Such a deed can only be described as a war crime, which should be severely punished in any civilised society.

The American double standards beggar belief. They criticise Russia for entering the Syrian dispute but perpetrate a hospital outrage.

There has rightly been much media publicity and criticism from many sources of our government’s dispute with the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the nonarrest of Omar al-Bashir. However, publicity about the Afghan hospital bombing has been limited and condemnation of the war crime was muted.

At least South Africa, in common with most African states, is a signatory to the Rome Statute, whereas the US refuses to be under the jurisdic- tion of the international court and thus can commit war crimes with impunity and trample on international law with no consequences.

In fact, none of the other major world powers, such as China and Russia, have signed the Rome Statute.

There seems to be one law for the rich and militarily powerful nations and another for smaller countries, especially on the African continent. The ICC seems dedicated to mainly targeting African alleged culprits.

Africa doesn’t request any special treatment in international affairs. We merely demand fairness and respect in forums such as the UN, the ICC and the monetary bodies like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The sooner the continent’s leaders take joint responsibility by crafting African solutions, like establishing an African Criminal Court and development banks etc, the sooner we will control our own destiny.

One law for the powerful, another for smaller countries

Saxonwold, Joburg