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Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie announced Tuesday that she had referred senior Australian military commanders to the International Criminal Court in the Hague over war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan. File Photo by Lukas Coch/EPA-EFE
June 20 (UPI) — An Australian senator said Tuesday that she had referred senior commanders of the Australian Defense Force to the International Criminal Court for investigation into their alleged inaction over crimes in Afghanistan.
Senator Jacqui Lambie, an independent representative for Tasmania, told the Senate she had taken the step because the Brereton Report into war crimes committed by the ADF between 2005 and 2016 gave senior commanders punished soldiers while commanders dodged accountability over knowledge of unlawful killings and abuse of prisoners.
The report, published in heavily redacted form in 2020, found 39 Afghan civilians were killed by, or on the orders of, Australian special forces — recommended 19 soldiers be investigated by the Office of the Special Investigator — but that commanders were not criminally responsible.
Lambie said the government has refused to acknowledge it was a “massive problem” and that she had been seeking a meeting with defense minister Richard Marles “for months” and alleged the government hoped the criticism “will just go away.”
“They’re hoping Australians will forget that when alleged war crimes in Afghanistan were investigated, our senior commanders got a free pass, while the diggers were thrown under the bus,” Lambie said. “Well, we don’t forget. I won’t forget. Lest we forget. There was a culture of cover-up at the highest levels of the ADF. It is the ultimate boys’ club. Well, today I say enough is enough.”
Lambie was expected to re-table in parliament the documents asking the ICC to prosecute later Tuesday once the government and opposition have had sight of them and Marles offered to meet with her.
A spokesman for Marles said the government had since coming into office in May 2022 been focused on implementing the recommendation of the Brereton Report, a process that was ongoing.
“As part of that, the Chief of the Defence Force has considered the command accountability of current and former serving ADF members who held command positions during the periods in which the Inspector-General of the ADF found credible information of incidents of alleged unlawful conduct as identified in the Afghanistan Inquiry,” he said.
“The CDF has presented the relevant material to the Deputy Prime Minister for consideration. The Deputy Prime Minister in his capacity as Minister for Defence is considering the recommendations and seeking advice as appropriate.”
Calling the allegations highlighted in the Brereton Report “appalling” and pledging to fully implement the report’s recommendations, Marles confirmed he would meet Lambie on Wednesday.
“Under the Albanese government, Australia is holding itself to account,” said Marles.
Glenn Kolomeitz, the lawyer who drafted the request to the ICC, said the legal test for the prosecutor would be whether commanders “knew or should have known” of the allegations.
“One of the prosecutor’s policies is to refer it back to the state party — so in this case back to Australia for consideration,” said Kolomeitz.
“The onus will then be on the Australian government to give some serious consideration as to why Australia has not investigated the command responsibility aspects of the Afghanistan allegations and what they’re going to do about it.”
