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International court readies to open

The US seat remains empty during the first meeting of the newly created International Criminal Court at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

Despite vigorous US objections, the governing body for the new International Criminal Court began a week-long session yesterday to make sure the tribunal is in operation by the middle of next year.

A total of 78 nations have ratified a 1998 Rome Treaty establishing a permanent court to prosecute individuals for the world's most heinous crimes, evoking memories of the Nuremberg tribunal that tried Nazi leaders at the end of World War II. The court's jurisdiction is not retroactive and covers crimes committed after July 1.

"This is an historic day for the United Nations and for the whole international community," said Hans Corell, the UN undersecretary-general for legal affairs as he opened the meeting, which ends on Tuesday, to loud applause.

"We see the dawn of a new age in the pursuit of justice," Corell said. "Impunity for those who commit the most heinous crimes will be curtailed. We genuinely hope that the International Criminal Court shall help spare future generations from the sufferings experienced by so many in the past."

Participating in the meeting are those who ratified the treaty before July 1 as well as 89 other nations that signed the statute, indicating an intention to ratify. The US did not attend, with the George W. Bush administration having rescinded former president Bill Clinton's signature.

The US strongly objects to the treaty, which could make Americans subject to the court's jurisdiction without being a party to the convention. Washington also believes US soldiers could become targets of politically motivated lawsuits.

Supporters of the court argue that there are enough safeguards and that the statutes apply only to those nations who do not have a functioning domestic justice system. Some diplomats noted that the US campaign against the court has given it a higher profile than it might have otherwise.

The US, by threatening to veto all UN peacekeeping missions in the UN Security Council, succeeded in getting a one-year grace period from the court.

It now wants bilateral arrangements with nearly every nation in the world pledging never to touch a US soldier.

The US actions were not on the agenda of the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute, as the meeting is called. But diplomats said the controversy would be discussed today at the instigation of Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland, a day after EU envoys meet in Brussels on the issue.

The session immediately elected a chairman for the governing body, Jordan's UN ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra-ad Zeid al-Hussein, whose country is the only Arab nation to ratify the Rome treaty. Uruguay's UN ambassador, Felipe Paolillo, and Sierra Leone's representative, Allieu Kanu, were chosen as vice presidents.

"Humanity will never truly advance, rest with its conscience, find comfort or peace, unless we do what we hitherto have been unable to do: provide a global juridical instrument to deter those persons seeking to commit the gravest of crimes," al-Hussein said.
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