When nations bribe nations…….

The crime was established. There had been a breach of trust involving moving children from the care of their parents. In fact, the bbc has used the term “accused of child trafficking” to describe the allegations.[1] The media helped publicise the anguish of the parents of the estranged children [2] A court found the accused to be guilty and sentenced them according to local law [3]. Even the most militarily powerful country in the world, advises its citizens who travel abroad, that they are subject to local law outside their country. [4]

And then, something interesting happened. Local law suddenly became pliable and lenient. The perpetrators were given full amnesty and freed. [5] How did this happen ?

The Oxford dictionary defines the verb “bribe” as to “dishonestly persuade (someone) to act in one’s favour by paying them or giving other inducement” [6]

Let us for a moment assume that this was a local case, say, in a country notorious for corruption, such as, say Chad, which is seventh from the bottom of the corruption perception index [7]. Let us again, for a moment, assume that an immensely wealthy individual were accused of the crime of kidnapping a child from a family of modest means. The child is rescued by the police, and the family goes to court with the accusation of kidnap. The accused are found guilty, and sentenced according to local law. If, then, after a while, the guilty were suddenly released from prison and provided amnesty, what is to be inferred about the accused (or his or her supporters) and local law ? What is the message that the general public were to take away ? That justice may be bought for a price ?

A sad day indeed, for Human Rights.

(All urls retrieved on 1st April, 2008 )

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7067374.stm

[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7086177.stm

[3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7160790.stm

[4] http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_639.html

[5] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7323673.stm

[6] http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/bribe?view=uk

[7] http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2007