Speaking of universal jurisdictions, reconsider this fwd from Johannes Schneider:
Below is an article from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung www.faz.com on the growing tensions between the US and Europe: The Tension Rises By Friederike Bauer and Nikolas Buse
``The list of agreements that do not pas muster with the United States is growing: the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, ... the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, ...the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child....''
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This is an interesting list of non-conformity. I didn't know the specifics beyond some vague news details on our dismantling of nuclear test ban treaties so I looked the others up.
The US has not ratified the Rome Statue which establishes the Hague, as the International Criminal Court, nor the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which is the extension of universal human rights to cover children. Not mentioned, but related, we have also failed to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. We have signed all and ratified none. The details are here:
http://www.unicef.org/crc/faq.htm#008 (children)
http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/icc/statute/ (genocide/war crimes)
http://www.pch.gc.ca/ddp-hrd/docs/cedaw/cn_e.shtml (women)
Without the rhetoric, our government's objections come down to these three points. 1) The US retains the right to execute or imprison children for life. 2) The US retains the right to use, deploy, manufacture, transfer and sell weapons, the uses of which constitute a war crime. 3) The US retains the right to deny women their reproductive rights.
So, in short our institutions of government kill children, engage in war crimes, and oppress women as matters of established policy. One needs no independent evidence to prove these charges since they are matters of US law. Hence, our refusal to ratify them.
Chuck Grimes