Europe edgy on U.S. war court deal
July 13, 2002 Posted: 1:39 PM EDT (1739 GMT)
Germany's Joschka Fischer is one of those to voice reservations
PARIS, France -- European countries have given a lukewarm reception to a United Nations deal which exempts U.S. peacekeepers from prosecution by a new global war crimes court for one year.
The compromise, which came after roughly three weeks of negotiations, resolves a fierce dispute pitting the United States against all 15 European Union nations and many other countries that support the International Criminal Court.
While the deal fell short of U.S. demands for blanket immunity from the court, which it opposes, the compromise saved U.N. peacekeeping missions from veto threats by the Bush administration.
On Saturday, the European Union, Britain and France all voiced support for the deal, struck on Friday in the U.N. Security Council, but Belgium and Germany were less enthusiastic.
"The European Union welcomes the compromise reached in the U.N. security council last night," the EU presidency said in a statement.
"A solution has been reached that does not harm the integrity of the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court and which ensures uninterrupted continuation of UN peace keeping operations."
But Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, echoing comments from Canada on Friday, said the Council had struck a blow to the credibility of international law by exempting American troops from the court.
"I'm of course not very happy because it is a new blow to the credibility of international law and to the deterrent effect of the International Criminal Court," Michel told the RTBF public radio station.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also voiced reservations about the compromise and said the German government, together with EU partners, would try to persuade the United States to change its stance over the long-term.
"The federal government has stressed that from its point of view an acceptable solution must be found that damages neither the Security Council nor the International Criminal Court," Fischer said in a statement.
"The compromise struck in the Security Council does not fully take account of the reservations but leaves room to continue the dialogue."
The International Criminal Court was established to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and systematic human rights abuses.
The resolution asks the tribunal to allow a 12-month grace period before investigating or prosecuting U.N. peacekeepers from countries that do not support the court "if a case arises" and "unless the Security Council decides otherwise."
It expresses the council's "intention" to renew the resolution in a year but does not commit it to do so.
After the resolution was agreed, British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the current council president, had the body immediately approve an extension of the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and a smaller one on Croatia's Prevlaka peninsula.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the resolution offered "a degree of protection for the coming year" but warned supporters of the court against ever bringing an American before the tribunal, to be set up in The Hague.
"Should the ICC eventually seek to detain any American, the United States would regard this as illegitimate -- and it would have serious consequences. No nation should underestimate our commitment to protect our citizens," Negroponte said.
europe.cnn.com |
