International Criminal Court Gets Some Love from the Obama Administration

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from Mark Leon Goldberg at UN Dispatch: http://www.undispatch.com/node/9707


March 26, 2010

The International Criminal Court's governing body, the Assembly of State Parties, is meeting in New York this week. The United States has not ratified the treaty, so it is not technically a "state party," but last year the Obama administration decided that the United States, for the first time, would participate as an observer to the meeting. At the time, U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp said the United States was there to "listen and learn." This week, he took that extra step and outlined a new modus vivendi between the United States and the ICC: (http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/2010/138999.htm)

Said Rapp:

My own government, which has provided strong and steadfast support for ad hoc tribunals established since the 1990s, hopes that our experience could be of some value to the ICC, for example, in identifying ways to enhance effective cooperation, particularly when it comes to ensuring that those who are now the subject of an arrest warrant are brought before the bar of justice.

But we also recognize that it is the Court officials themselves who know what assistance is needed. The Obama Administration would therefore like to meet with the Prosecutor and other officials at the International Criminal Court to examine ways that the United States might be able to support the efforts of the ICC that are already underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic, and Uganda. We believe that the ICC must successfully conclude the cases it has launched, that it must keep faith with the victims for whom it must achieve justice.

I'd call that a fairly strong endorsement of the ICC's current work. The thing is, it comes at something of an awkward moment. In late May, the Assembly of State Parties will once again meet, this time in Kampala, Uganda, for a ten year review of the Rome Statute. Up for discussion is whether or not to include the crime of Aggression as something that falls under the jurisdiction of the ICC. (Aggression is generally understood as the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of another state when not in self-defense or without the United Nations Security Council invoking Article VII of the UN Charter) . . .

Since the United States is not a member of the ICC, it will not have a formal say in these discussions. But because the Obama administration is participating as an observer--and because there is a genuine effort on the part of the Obama administration to work cooperatively with the ICC -- I think it's fair to say that U.S. concerns will be taken into account.


read more: http://www.undispatch.com/node/9707

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1. In related news: BushCo* has relocated to an undisclosed, secure site. n/t

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