Wednesday, 23 June 2004
What War Crimes?
When the Internation Criminal Court was established in 1998, it was done brought into existence by the signatures of 94 different countries. It offered a new, universal standard of justice that could be guaranteed on an international basis.
The United States did not sign the measure. Instead, the US has spent the past 6 years under guaranteed immunity from the ICC. Each year, the UN Security Council has ratified a treaty explicitly exempting US troops and officials from prosecution under the World Court.
Then came the naked human pyramids:
The US has given up trying to win its soldiers immunity from prosecution at the new International Criminal Court.
Washington withdrew its resolution after it became clear it would not get the required support.
"The United States has decided not to proceed further with consideration and action on the draft at this time in order to avoid a prolonged and divisive debate," said the US deputy ambassador to the UN James Cunningham.
Apparently, not even members of the Bush Administration could keep a straight face when they were claiming that US troops are "above that sort of thing".
But how sick is this - the US is threatening to withhold funds for UN peacekeeping missions if the demands aren't met:
Mr Cunningham did not repeat the warning, but said the US would in future "need to take into account the risk of ICC review when determining contributions to UN authorised or established operations".
The US offered a compromise to the Security Council on Tuesday, asking it to renew the existing immunity for just one more year.
It seems as though the Security Council won't budge though. This resolution needs a unanimous vote to pass, and China has been forceful in her opposition to it.
To claim exemption from war crimes prosecution in light of the Abu Ghraib scandal (among other travesties) is the height of arrogance. If the US were truly interested in fostering a "Coalition of the Willing" a good place to start would be by ratifying the ICC and ushering in a new era of international law.
Of course, should the US wind up signing the measure, I'll be more than happy to pay for George Bush's one-way plane ticket to the Hague.
I'll even spring for first class, although it'll be tough for him to get comfortable in those handcuffs.
Posted by SmooveJ Zao on June 23, 2004 at 03:46 PM | Permalink
yo -- not to mention that we've signed treaties with 90 of the signatories to not prosecute americans. i mean, yah, we have to keep tabs on the 4 remaining countries i guess, but it's not like an american is going to get hauled into the icc any time soon.
Posted by: mel | Jun 24, 2004 11:35:32 AM
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