Eviscerating International Justice (ICC)

by Miguel Concha, La Jornada,
Mexico City, Mexico, Sept. 21, 2002

[World Press Review, December 2002]

One of the main problems occupying the attention of the many government and nongovernmental delegates attending the first session of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) held earlier this month was the bilateral impunity agreements the U.S. government has been attempting to impose since August of this year.

The purpose of these agreements is to exempt from the ICC's complementary jurisdiction U.S. soldiers and personnel who are alleged to be responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, including those in operations not established or authorized by the United Nations.

After the United States "unsigned" the Rome Statute [establishing the criminal court] last May, it began a campaign to undermine the ICC's capacity to exercise jurisdiction over citizens of nonsignatory states accused of crimes committed in territories of signatory states.

To this end, it first managed to pass Security Council Resolution l422 on July 12, to effectively postpone any ICC investigation or prosecution of citizens of nonsignatory states for actions or omissions related to operations established or authorized by the U.N.

Second, the United States has initiated a vigorous diplomatic campaign around the world to persuade states to sign bilateral impunity agreements, for the purpose of preventing those states from surrendering to the ICC U.S. citizens alleged to be responsible for such serious crimes.

The United States has even threatened to cut off aid to states refusing to - sign such agreements.

According to Amnesty International, the U.S. impunity agreements are contrary to Article 98(2) of the Rome Statute and contrary to international law. Ultimately, their purpose is to provide total impunity to U.S. citizens and other persons protected by that country (employees, civil contractors, secret service informants, etc.).The objective pursued by the U.S. government is in total opposition to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) referred to in Article 98(2) of the Rome Statute. Instead of assigning responsibilities for the investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by members of the armed forces who are present in the territory of a host state, and instead of requiring both parties to provide assistance to the other for this purpose- which is what SOFAs traditionally establish-the United States is attempting to prevent the ICC from exercising its jurisdiction.

It is concerned only with guaranteeing its impunity, and it is once again damaging the sovereignty of other states and the universal justice of the international community.

In accordance with its own laws, the United States cannot (and it is very likely that it has no desire to) investigate or prosecute all the individuals it wishes to protect through the impunity agreements in relation to the crimes specified in the Rome Statute. It has made it clear that it will exercise its own discretionary criteria and will investigate and prosecute only those individuals charged with the worst crimes known to humanity "when indicated.'' Furthermore, the states signing these bilateral agreements will not assume any obligation to investigate or prosecute those individuals in their own courts, and they will be subjected to intense pressure from the United States to refrain from doing so.

These agreements even prevent U.S. citizens and other individuals protected by the United States from voluntarily appearing as witnesses in cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Neither the ICC nor any other court will be able to intervene as an appeals court if the United States cannot or does not wish to investigate these crimes. Fortunately, at the first Assembly of States Parties of the ICC, grave concern was expressed over these bilateral agreements, which have already been signed, although not ratified, by Romania, Tajikistan, East Timor, and Israel.

Denmark's minister of justice, on behalf of the entire European Union, rejected any attempt to undermine the Rome Statute, and the Costa Rican representative, on behalf of the Rio Croup, asked that the spirit and letter of the statute be respected.

We trust that our senators will ratify the statute as soon as possible. It is a matter of our dignity, sovereignty, and independence as a country.

International Criminal Court

Index of Website

Home Page