U.S. official states reservations over authority of proposed
international court
Copyright © 1999 Nando Medi
Copyright © 1999Scripps McClatchy Western Service
By GREG GORDON, Nando Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (July 21, 1999 2:03 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A
senior State Department official told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday
that the United States will refuse to sign a treaty creating an
International Criminal Court unless actions such as the recent NATO
bombing of Serbian factories are immune from prosecution.
But Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., the subcommittee chairman, said after
listening to testimony at a closed-door hearing that he worries the
administration might yet agree to a treaty exposing U.S. citizens to
legal action.
David Scheffer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, declined
to talk about the specifics of his 90-minute appearance. But Scheffer
said the administration still has "a fundamental problem" with the
treaty creating the court.
"Kosovo is a good example of the risks that the United States and
other NATO governments could be exposed to for prosecution if this
treaty is not fixed," he said.
The treaty, signed in Rome a year ago by 83 nations, would create a
permanent, free-standing court to prosecute crimes of genocide, crimes
against humanity, war crimes and the yet-to-be-defined "crime of
aggression."
The court would have authority similar to that of the Yugoslav War
Crimes Tribunal, which indicted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic,
and the Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal.
Only three of the necessary 60 governments have ratified the treaty,
though as many as 175 nations are due to resume negotiations over its
final provisions, including definitions of the elements of crimes, at
a meeting next week in New York City.
The United States and Turkey are the only members of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization that have yet to sign the treaty.
Scheffer said that proponents argue that creating such a body would
"avoid the need of having to create a new ad hoc tribunal every time
there is a conflict in the world - a very difficult exercise."
He said the court also would serve as "a longstanding deterrent to the
commission of these crimes."
Administration officials had eagerly pursued the treaty, but Scheffer
said they were "very disappointed" in the document drafted in Rome.
"We believe this treaty can be fixed, but it's going to require a lot
of hard work, a lot of diplomacy, and a better appreciation on the
part of all concerned as to the importance of the U.S. role, not only
in the world, but also in how this court would function," he said.
In an opening statement drafted for delivery at the hearing, Grams
noted that human-rights organizations have said that NATO's use of
cluster bombs and the bombings of Serbian power plants, factories and
broadcast facilities were possible violations of the Geneva
Convention.
"And technically, they may be right," Grams said. "We may have
violated international law. But we didn't have to fear indictment by
the Yugoslav Tribunal. ... If the (court) were up and running, it
would be a different story."
Grams said that during the hearing, Scheffer assured him the United
States would not sign any treaty that would compromise "official" U.S.
actions.
He said he worries that administration officials might abandon a
laundry list of other concerns because they are "wanting so to sign
this treaty so badly."
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Do you have some feedback for the Nando Times staff?