Posted on 03/26/2002 8:12:11 AM PST by TheUglyAmerican
NITED NATIONS, March 25 — The world's first permanent international court to try individuals charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity may become a reality within the next few weeks, much sooner than expected, legal experts said today.
"We're creeping very close to the 60 ratifications needed," the United Nations spokesman, Fred Eckhard, told reporters today.
The leader of the nongovernmental Coalition for the International Criminal Court, William Pace, said in an interview that the remaining ratifications — four more are needed — could take place during the opening days of a meeting to discuss the court's budget and other matters, beginning on April 8. Some officials say the finish line could be crossed earlier.
At the end of last week, the 1998 treaty establishing the court had been signed by 139 nations and ratified by 56. Countries are now jockeying to be the 60th to ratify, thus technically bringing the court into existence. Based in The Hague, the International Criminal Court will take at least a year to begin to function.
The Bush administration, breaking with European and NATO allies, strongly opposes the court and has vowed never to send the treaty to the Senate for ratification. The treaty, adopted by a conference of nations in Rome in 1998, was signed by the United States in the waning days of the Clinton administration over the objections of the Pentagon and conservatives in Congress who feared that Americans would be easy targets as they carried out missions abroad.
The United States has demanded that no United Nations money be spent on the first organizational meeting of nations that have ratified the court treaty, tentatively set for September. Washington wants an exemption for its citizens from the court's reach.
If the 60 ratifications are received in April, the court's jurisdiction will begin on July 1 in the sense that any crime committed after that date is eligible for prosecution. There is no ex post facto jurisdiction.
Mr. Pace, who leads a coalition of more than 1,000 legal and other organizations supporting the court, said events of the last four years had moved faster than anyone had predicted.
"When we started in the mid-90's, and even right up until Rome in 1998, people thought it was going to take 50 or 100 years before governments would be willing to create a permanent international criminal court," he said.
"After the treaty was adopted — because of the opposition of the U.S., China, India and other countries — it was thought that it would probably take at least 15, 20, 25 years for 60 ratifications. Many countries, like Germany and France, have had to change their Constitutions to ratify. Yet here, less that four years later, we will have achieved the 60 ratifications.
"It's a real demonstration how much the mobilization of democracy and justice and the rule of law is also proceeding in international affairs," he said.
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Many countries, like Germany and France, have had to change their Constitutions to ratify.
How horrible! Why can't they just ignore their constitutions like we do ours?
This is illegal, at best. Criminal at worst. (I suppose that's why they call it the International Criminal Court.... After all, it will only ever be used by CRIMINALS against the innocent, anyway...)
If this goes into effect, America should immediately retaliate by permanently withdrawing from the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. Unlike the European Fraternal Socialist Union, we don't need either organization to be successful.
:) ttt
Not to worry. They will also ignore obvious crimes like our justice department does.
(Click on my profile page for the up-to-date Clinton Crime List)
Clinton and Gore supported this travesty. Remember?
Exactly. If the farce of the International Conference on Racism they had in Durban is any indication, you can expect this in the near future. The current round of lawsuits against corporations is just a dress rehearsal.
If there’s a chance for money to be had for nothing, you can rest assured that Jessie Jackson and Kwambi Mufumbly-wumbly will come running.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
I don't expect Congress to take this leviathan on. They've got more important things to worry about, like protecting the jobs of all of the Civil Servants we've got working for the government, who we obviously can't live without. (Remember how life "totally stopped" (sarcastially speaking) during the 1992 shutdown of the government? Heh.)
:) ttt
Dear Coalition members,
> > The Coalition is very happy to announce that we have just received a confirmation from the UN Treaty Office that a ratification event will be held at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday April 11th at 9:30 am in Conference Room 3. The four remaining ratifications are scheduled to be deposited at this event, and we anticipate that there will be more. Every country that ratifies during the event will be considered the 60th, in order to give each country equal credit in the achievement of the 60 ratifications necessary for the Rome Statute to enter into force. > > The countries that have confirmed their participation are Cambodia, Ireland, Jordan and Romania. Others that are likely to participate include Bosnia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Greece, Latvia, and Niger; there may be others. While we believe that these countries understand the advantages of participating in such a high profile event rather than depositing their instrument of ratification beforehand, we would appreciate the assistance of CICC members in reinforcing this if you are speaking with government officials about their ratification. In addition, if you are aware of other countries with the potential to complete the process and deposit by April 11th, it may make an important difference to communicate that they will be included among the 'first 60' if they participate in this event. > > At the same time we encourage you to get in touch with government officials in your country to try to ensure that other celebratory events, involving government officials and NGOs, will take place in capitals around the world on April 11th. We also encourage you to begin preparations for media outreach and educational events on this date. Our staff will send additional ideas shortly, with information about support you can expect from the Coalition Secretariat. > > Our heartfelt congratulations and thanks go out to every member of the NGO Coalition for the ICC. This is an enormous achievement that would not have been possible without your hard work and dedication. The Coalition Secretariat looks forward to celebrating with those of you who will be in New York at this time, and will be celebrating in spirit with those who will be in other parts of the world. > > William R. Pace
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