it has become fashionable to hold everyone to the same legal standards, even former heads of state. but does it matter? recently, the newspapers have been full with articles about the trials that face milosevic, estrada, pinochet, among others. obviously, the legal system is more powerful than ever, tackling cases that may have seemed hopeless just a few short years ago. the international court of den hague is gaining status and has started to hear cases like germany versus the us where germany condemns the death penalty.

while it is worthwhile to have a global court system to protect human rights issues, there is another side to it which is not at all pleasant. the hague convention will, if ratified, allow jurisdictions of member states to enforce their laws in other member states.

this could mean that china could sue someone in switzerland over free speech because what is legal to say differs a great deal from china to switzerland.

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