Letter to the Editor: Even war heroes can be held to account

DEAR News Of The Area,

AS ANZAC Day approaches, and as wars rage unabated in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, it is important to contemplate the sacrifices made by previous generations and what legacies we have inherited.

Almost everyone who participated in WWII is now dead, weakening the direct link to that dark period in history that still casts its shadow over today’s world.

The second world war was a time of unparalleled barbarity involving torture, genocide, fire bombing of civilians, nuclear destruction of cities, and much more.

At the time a lot of this was justified as a necessary response to the venality of the Nazis and their racist ideology.

After the war ended there was a general consensus that action needed to be taken to prevent such atrocities happening again.

The United Nations (UN) was created in 1945.

Its primary goal is to prevent future conflicts, maintain international peace, and promote human rights.

In 1949 the Geneva Conventions were created.

This treaty, and its additional protocols, seeks to protect people who do not take part in the fighting (civilians, medics, aid workers) and those who can no longer fight (wounded, sick and shipwrecked troops, prisoners of war).

These treaties, and the institutions that seek to enforce them, have been created and agreed to in order to prevent a descent into barbarity.

The fact that they appear to be breached with impunity does not mean that they are ineffective.

On the contrary, we need to be reminded of their usefulness and the need to enforce them more than ever.

The arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith on allegations of war crimes is a pertinent example that even war heroes can be held to account.

The accusations against him came, not from investigative journalists, but from his own comrades who knew the law and understood the consequences.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the world recognises “the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.

This dignity is inherent, it belongs to all of us.

No exceptions.

These rights are inalienable. They can not be taken away.

This is what the world agreed to as a way to acknowledge the deaths of over 70 million people in nearly six years of war.

If we truly wish to honour and respect the people who gave their lives in war then we should seek to strengthen and apply a respect for human rights.

War crimes should be prosecuted and war criminals should be held to account.

Regards,
Peter SOBEY,

Valla.