Take a moment to contemplate the video released to the world last year that showed law enforcement officers in the US assaulting an African American male for no apparent reason.
How did you feel about it? Did it make you feel angry, or helpless? Did you question why the occurrence had taken place? Now just envision yourself in that scene. What would you have done about it if you had been present at the scene?
Extrajudicial Killings
Extrajudicial executions are any deaths sanctioned by a person or a body in power that are not protected by the cover of the law. There are so many kinds of extrajudicial killings, and the sad truth is that they take place every day in different parts of the world.
The most common forms of extrajudicial executions include forced disappearance, summary executions, death squads, terminations with prejudice and targeted killings. Forced disappearance occurs when a suspect is forcibly taken into custody by police authorities then ‘disappears.’ No information is provided for this individual after the fact. Summary executions and targeted killings are similar in that there is the presumption of guilt when the suspect is killed, though targeted assassinations are reserved for more high profile targets. Death squads involve mass-fatality extrajudicial killings by military and militia groups, while terminations with prejudice take place when a leader orders the death of selected groups by any means necessary.
Extrajudicial Killings in Today’s World
Most extrajudicial executions, as stated before, are committed by people in authority. More often than not these ‘authorities’ are the country’s leaders or their governments. When these leaders feel threatened, they retaliate by ordering deaths. Others do it for the pleasure of it or to exert power, and others for material gain such as the acquisition of minerals situated on private property.
Backtrack one month from this moment. In March of 2017, the Philippines experienced a massive wave of extrajudicial killings. Protected by the belief that they were ‘cleaning the streets,’ tens of officers from the Philippine National Police took to the streets and massacred men and women whom they considered drug suspects. These death squads killed anybody on the streets for a short period, mounting a total of over 2500 killings, and those were just the known cases.
The other murders perpetrated by the PNP were labeled ‘found bodies,’ read one report, and then cast aside. A witness said to the body which had written the report, “They would drag people out of their homes and shoot them, then cover their heads with packing tape. Bodies littering the streets would then be covered by cardboard placards labeling them as drug dealers.” Few witnesses ever came forward. The few who did say it was because their president boasted of killing criminals, and did not prosecute even the officers labeled as mass murderers.
In April, a Swedish radio station picked up a recording in which a Bangladeshi officer spoke of how he took bribes. He then used the currency to buy ammunition. The office was part of a unit sanctioned by the ruling Awami League Government to ‘deal with the opposition,’ witnesses said. The unit, called the Rapid Action Battalion, would pick up their targets and kill them before disposing of their bodies. The RAB was linked to the disappearance of over fifteen government opposition leaders in the country’s past two-month period.
Extrajudicial killings are not limited to specific continents either. Just this week a video went viral on social media that depicted several plainly-clothed men, identified by witnesses as policemen, literally hacking a man to death. The video was shot in Kenya’s Eastleigh region and clearly showcased police brutality in a country marked by surveyors worldwide as the area with the highest extrajudicial killings in Africa. This video showed the summary execution type of extrajudicial killing, where the officers thought the suspect guilty and murdered him without the option of a fair trial.
And now, there is a massacre that is still shocking to the world for its brutality. On Tuesday, the government of Syria purportedly launched several bombs from its al-Sharyat airbase. The bombs, dropped over Injub Province of Northern Syria, were not so shocking by their delivery as by their nature. Resulting in the death of eighty-six civilians, the air-delivered missiles contained sarin, a nerve toxin that kills slowly and agonizingly.
Sarin was banned in the past because of its devastating effect on its victims. Leaders from all parts of the globe could just not understand how a government could allegedly murder its people in so open and painful an attack.
How do World Bodies react to such killings?
Just like every country has commissions in place to deal with specific events, countries have global alliances and agencies to contend with extrajudicial murders.
One such body is the United Nations. Made of over one hundred and fifty member states, the global organization offers fora where member states vote on how to deal with extrajudicial killings particularly on a massive scale much like the Syrian attack. It is important to note that this body is a diplomatic entity where every nation’s say matters. The Security Council of this body is usually charged with investigating extrajudicial killings. If a leader refuses to relinquish power and in the process perpetuates the murders, the Council may also react by sending in troops to apprehend him or her.
The Human Rights Commission Department in the UN champions for the victims and defends them. It furthermore, in collaboration with groups like the Human Rights Watch which reported the Philippine National Police case, gathers evidence and publishes reports which are used in the prosecution of extrajudicial murders perpetrators.
Leaders suspected of human right violations by ordering extrajudicial executions are prosecuted in the International Criminal Court. However, this is only for those countries who are part of the court. Countries which are not part of the court may have the suspects extradited to other nations for prosecution.
Finally, trading blocs also have a part in dealing with these killings. Bodies like the EU will sanction nations that do not prosecute extrajudicial murders. Others such as ICAN will tighten laws and agreements for heavier repercussions of offending parties.
