September 4, 2002
Non-governmental organisations which played a key part in setting up the International Criminal Court urged European Union states on Wednesday to resist US efforts to obtain immunity for its citizens. Richard Dicker, a lawyer for Human Rights Watch, described as real a threat by the United States to pull out of peacekeeping operations in the Balkans unless its troops were immune from prosecution by the ICC.
"But I think also there is a good deal of bluff, and it is time the bluff be called," Dicker told a news conference organised by the Coalition for the ICC, a group of NGOs. The news conference was held on the sidelines of the first meeting of the court's governing body -- the Assembly of States Parties to the 1999 Rome Statute, which came into force on July 1.
The United States withdrew its signature from the statute on May 6. Since then, it has used its veto in the United Nations Security Council to get a one-year exemption from the ICC for any of its citizens on a UN mission.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has noted that no UN peacekeeper has ever been accused of a war crime, a crime against humanity or genocide -- the three offences the ICC was set up to try. But the administration of US President George W. Bush has said it wants an absolute guarantee for all US citizens from what it fears will be politically biased prosecutions.
It has signed agreements with four countries -- two of them parties to the Rome statute -- to prevent the extradition of any US citizen who might be sought by the court, and has put pressure on others to sign similar accords.
Marie-Claire Leman, of the NGO Parliamentarians for Global Action, said the Security Council resolution giving a one-year exemption had been "portrayed as a compromise but was a very divisive move". It was also of dubious legality because it could be seen as an attempt to rewrite the Rome Statute, she said.
Washington's efforts to strike bilateral deals have split the EU, although all 15 of its member states have ratified the statute. EU foreign ministers meeting at Elsinore, Denmark, at the weekend failed to agree on a common position, and referred the problem to a committee of legal experts.
"Some states are acting honorably and some not," Dicker said, adding that Human Rights Watch thought the British government was playing "an unacceptable, behind the scenes, role." A British official rejected the allegation, saying Britain wanted "a practical solution that is within in the statute." The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added: "It is pretty frustrating when people prefer to dig in on their own hardline position and throw stones at those who try to find solutions."
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