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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gamesmistress who wrote (48309)	9/30/2002 2:02:54 PM
From: gamesmistress	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Looks like a win for the US. EU Agrees to Keep U.S. Citizens Out of War-Crimes Court A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Defusing a trans-Atlantic spat, the European Union agreed Monday to spare American citizens the fate of standing trial on war-crimes charges in the newly created International Criminal Court. EU foreign ministers reached a deal effectively preventing them from extraditing U.S. soldiers or government officials to the ICC provided that Washington guarantees any Americans suspected of war crimes will be tried in the U.S. The Bush administration has asked for such a blanket exemption, fearing that Americans would face cavalier, politically motivated trials stemming from peacekeeping or other military operations in areas of war or crisis. However, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, chairman of the foreign-ministers meeting, said existing extradition agreements and principles will be strictly applied, foregoing the need for new bilateral accords with Washington. The U.S. had been pressing countries around the world to sign new bilateral agreements. "There is no concession," Mr. Moeller said, referring to accusations from human-rights groups that the Europeans were caving in to U.S. pressure. "There is no undermining of the International Criminal Court." The EU said there will be no exemption from prosecution for mercenaries -- free-lance soldiers who aren't on a government-mandated peacekeeping or war mission but who seek out a conflict or crisis on their own, officials said. The EU agreed to let countries sign bilateral accords with the U.S., exempting Americans from an ICC trial, if they wish. Britain and Italy have said that they may do that. Some, however, had wanted more stringent conditions. "We sought a clear rejection," of bilateral agreements with Washington, said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. "We did not get that, but we came very close to it." Those who oppose bilateral accords -- for fear of a backlash at home -- will be able to apply conditions that achieve the same goal. For instance, soldiers stationed abroad are usually exempt from prosecution in the nation where they are based under existing accords. Also, officials said, EU nations will invoke diplomatic-immunity agreements for U.S. civilians -- such as politicians, defense-department personnel or Central Intelligence Agency employees -- to keep them out of the ICC. EU foreign ministers said they won't exempt their nationals from any trial in the ICC. EU officials insisted that the ICC's integrity and effectiveness have been preserved. "This is very important because the Milosevices and Pinochets of tomorrow will be brought to justice," Mr. Fischer said, referring to former authoritarian leaders of Yugoslavia and Chile, respectively. Washington never ratified the 1998 treaty creating the ICC, which is empowered to investigate war crimes when national governments refuse to get involved. The ICC treaty, known as the Rome Statute, took effect July 1 and has been ratified by 79 countries. The court is expected to open in The Hague in March. While advocates hail the court as a major advance in human rights, Washington fears that the ICC could become a forum for politically motivated trials of Americans overseas at a time when the U.S. is expanding its military presence in the world. Updated September 30, 2002 11:34 a.m. EDT