During the Clinton impeachment, the message being sent to the world was that the US is a nation of laws and that none, not even the US President is above the law. On the ICC issue, the US is requiring that the other countries put the US above international law. Very contradictory isn't it. After all what has the US to fear. It is a open society and a society of laws.
White House bows to pressure on world court as it offers compromise to buy time
By Colum Lynch at the United Nations
July 12 2002
Under increasing attack from its allies, the Bush Administration has agreed to drop its demand that the United Nations Security Council grant American peacekeepers permanent immunity from the new international war crimes tribunal.
Instead, it has suggested a compromise that would exempt United States peacekeepers from prosecution by the world's first permanent criminal court for 12 months. The draft resolution, presented to the 15-nation Security Council, drops an earlier demand - rejected by most members - that immunity from the court's jurisdiction be automatically renewed every 12 months.
US officials said they were seeking a temporary exemption from prosecution to buy time to negotiate bilateral accords and military agreements barring individual governments from surrendering US nationals to the court.
The reversal represented a significant diplomatic retreat by the US, which had twice threatened to shut down the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and to reconsider its support for 14 other UN peacekeeping operations.
UN diplomats said the turnaround reflected Washington's failure to calculate the intensity of international support for the court, particularly from European governments, and its reluctance to jeopardise UN-approved missions that serve US interests.
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It is unclear whether the new proposals will be approved after a day of public debate in which dozens of countries attacked the Bush Administration for trying to stand above the law.
The British ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, this month's council president, said he viewed the draft resolution as "a very fair basis for discussion".
But France's UN ambassador, Jean-David Levitte, told closed council consultations that the resolution was "a step" in the right direction but fell short of getting his country's support, diplomats said. France has threatened an abstention, rather than using its veto to kill any US proposal.
The US compromise, which is backed by China and Russia, would provide a blanket deferral from prosecution for one year to all nationals from countries that have not ratified the International Criminal Court. The resolution also calls on the council to express its intention to renew the deferral each year.
Canada's UN ambassador, Paul Heinbecker, said any exemption for American nationals would "send an unacceptable message that some people - peacekeepers - are above the law".
Mr Levitte said the provision in the treaty was intended to allow the council to defer court investigations on a case-by-case basis, and only in the rare event that it would interfere with the council's efforts to negotiate a peace agreement.
The Washington Post and Agencies
This story was found at: smh.com.au |
