FOUNDATION: UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS NO TOOTHLESS TIGER

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), Jan 15 (Bernama) -- The United Nations (UN) General
Assembly can set up its own International Criminal Tribunal for Palestine to
prosecute suspected Israeli war criminals involved in brutal acts against the
Palestinians under Article 22 of the UN Charter.

Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War (KLFCW) trustee Tunku Sofiah
Jewa said this today in response to the Malaysian Parliament's unanimous support
to her call for countries to implement the international tribunal.

The idea was proposed by noted international jurist Prof Francis A. Boyle.

However, Tunku Sofia noted that the prerogative to set up the international
criminal tribunal did not belong to the UN Security Council alone.

"Whilst ad hoc criminal tribunals concerning former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
were created through UN Security Council resolutions, the more permanent
International Criminal Court (ICC) was in fact initiated by a resolution from
the UN General Assembly," said Tunku Sofiah in her comments posted through the
trustee corner of KLFCW blog at http://www.criminalisewar.com/blog/.

She said the UN General Assembly was no toothless tiger and recalled in
the 1970s, despite China's veto power in the Security Council, it was a
resolution of the UN General Assembly that ousted representatives from
Nationalist China (now Taiwan) from sitting in both the Security Council and the
General Assembly, in favour of those from the Peoples' Republic of China.
-- BERNAMA