Angelina in the Post

Angelina Jolie has a piece about Darfur in today's Washington Post:

I've seen how aid workers and nongovernmental organizations make a difference to people struggling for survival. I can see on workers' faces the toll their efforts have taken. Sitting among them, I'm amazed by their bravery and resilience. But humanitarian relief alone will never be enough.

Until the killers and their sponsors are prosecuted and punished, violence will continue on a massive scale. Ending it may well require military action. But accountability can also come from international tribunals, measuring the perpetrators against international standards of justice.

Accountability is a powerful force. It has the potential to change behavior -- to check aggression by those who are used to acting with impunity. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has said that genocide is not a crime of passion; it is a calculated offense. He's right. When crimes against humanity are punished consistently and severely, the killers' calculus will change.

I'm as cynical about Hollywood activism as the next guy, and some would say her faith in the International Criminal Court is naive at best, but I think Jolie deserves a lot of credit for speaking out about the first genocide of the 21st century.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at February 28, 2007 07:27 AM