Australia and six former communist countries are failing to investigate and prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals, largely due to a lack of political will, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The center, which just released its annual report, said the same holds true for Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine, which also face no legal obstacles in bringing suspects to justice.
The report graded the countries around the world on their performance in bringing Nazis to justice between April 2007 and March 2008.
Chief Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff wrote in the report, "In analyzing the results presented in this report, the critical importance of political will in bringing Nazi war criminals to justice is increasingly evident."
Australia in particular was harshly criticized for admitting "at least several hundred" Nazi war criminals and collaborators, without completing a successful legal action against even one.
The Center gave out the worst possible mark – "F-2" – to several nations, including Australia, Hungary and Lithuania.