06/16/10
 This past weekend, another small piece of international law was written over strong objections from the US delegation in a two week meeting in Uganda. The International Criminal Court (ICC), who does not count the US among its 111 members, voted to include ''aggression'' as an international crime under its jurisdiction. The resolution, which does not go into effect until 2017, cannot be used to bring a case against non members, including the US, Russia and China. As a non member, the US did not vote on the resolution, but sent a delegation to participate in the debate.
The principal objection to the resolution is that ''aggression'' is worded too vaguely to be of practical value and could lead to politically based prosecutions in the future. The court based its definition of aggression on UN Resolution 3314, enacted December 14, 1974. In particular, the resolution defines aggression separately from wars of aggression and critics of both the original UN resolution and the recent decision of the ICC are concerned that border disputes involving self defense, among other international actions, could trigger the definition.
The ICC was created in 2000 by the Rome Statute, signed by President Clinton. But President Clinton never brought it to the Senate for a vote and much like the ill fated League of Nations, the ICC is an American creation without American support. Under President Bush, the US had virtually no involvement with the ICC. There is a concern that the court could be used to prosecute members of the American armed forces serving overseas, even those serving in peacekeeping missions. The Bush administration effectively ''unsigned'' the treaty, even though it was never ratified by the Senate.
Thus far, the ICC has only brought forward a small number of cases, mostly revolving around ongoing genocide in Darfur and elsewhere in Africa, and has not completed a single trial.
|
