Criminal Arrogance
Since it came into office in January 2001 the Bush administration has spent an enormous amount of political energy trying to de-legitimize the existence of International Criminal Court of Justice in the Hague. The administration secured passage of the anti-ICC American Servicemembers’ Protection Act (which is commonly referred to in Europe as the “Hague Invasion Act” due to its polemic language), decided to un-sign the ICC Rome Statute and flirted with a global anti-ratification campaign. Most recently the administration and its congressional allies have sought to force members of the ICC (the number of countries that have ratified the treaty is now 99 and growing) to sign Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIAs), which exempt all U.S. nationals and non-national contractors from accountability before the International Criminal Court.
Its current tool of choice in the effort to secure BIA’s is the Nethercutt Provision (which became law in 2005 and is up for renewal in this year’s House version of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.) The provision ties U.S. foreign policy assistance to countries support of the ICC by pushing these countries to sign BIAs. Under Nethercutt, ICC member countries stand to lose Economic Support Fund (ESF) Assistance if they do not put all U.S. citizens on their territory, even mercenaries and common criminals, above domestic law—law that their own citizens and leaders are expected to obey.
This high-handed policy is harmful to both U.S. interests and standing in the world. Even worse, it’s completely unnecessary. For starters, the ICC has refused to prosecute individuals where there is an able and willing national justice system in place to investigate the alleged crimes. In addition, in almost all countries party to the ICC, agreements granting immunity to U.S. service members are already in place. “Status of Forces Agreements,” or SOFAs, have been settled international policy between the U.S. and other nations since before the ICC’s conceptualization. Under SOFAs, countries must turn over U.S. officials and other military personnel accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide to the U.S., instead of putting them on trial in domestic courts or sending them to an international court or tribunal.
No comments:
Post a Comment