The Social Liberal Foreign Policy Spokesman and the Social Liberal Minister for Development Aid are at loggerheads following a statement yesterday in which the former expressed support for offering Syria’s President Assad a safe haven and thus immunity from prosecution at the International Criminal Court.

Development Aid Minister Christian Friis Bach says that the proposal, designed to prevent further bloodshed in Syria, runs contrary to Social Liberal principles.

“I can understand that people are looking for a loophole, a way out or an option that can show the way to a short-term solution. But I would advise against it because I believe it would be breaking core legal principles on how to handle it in the long-term,” Friis Bach says.

Asked what would be wrong in taking a short-cut to finding a solution, Friis Bach says such a solution would never be accepted in Denmark in connection with someone who had committed murder.

“Even if there were reasons to do so, it is a central principle that you cannot achieve immunity by committing worse crimes. That is a basic legal principle we have introduced with the International Criminal Court, which Denmark helped to pioneer,” he adds.

Foreign Policy Spokesman Rasmus Helveg Petersen says it is not surprising that there are different views on how to resolve a situation.

“We are Social Liberals and enjoy debate. If there are only two views from two people, it’s not so dramatic. Sometimes there are three or four views,” he says.

Asked whose view determined Social Liberal policy, Helveg Petersen was clear:

“The government and parliamentary party. We have not had the opportunity to discuss this because it arose from something that happened on Monday. We don’t have meetings at the moment and I’m sure we’ll be discussing the issue next time we meet,” he says.

It was on Monday that the Arab League urged President Assad to relinquish power in order to stop further bloodshed, offering him safe conduct and a safe haven in another country.

Helveg Petersen says that in order for Assad to be able to make use of such an offer it would be necessary to find a country which was not part of the ICC system and which would not give him immunity so that he could come to Europe to shop.

There are 121 states that are party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Iran, Russia and China are not among them.

DOCUMENTATION: See states that are party to the ICC Here (external link)

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