|
European
Union:
On September 30, 2002, the Council of the European Union (which consists
of the prime ministers and foreign ministers of the 15 EU nations) released
guiding principles for member countries considering bilateral agreements with
the U.S. Importantly, these principles state that "Entering into
US agreements - as presently drafted - would be inconsistent with ICC States
Parties' obligations with regard to the ICC Statute." For such an
agreement to be legal for States Parties, it would need to include at least the
following:
-
No impunity: A guarantee that an appropriate
investigation and potential prosecution would be undertaken by national
jurisdictions.
-
No reciprocity: The exclusion of nationals of ICC
States Parties from coverage of such an agreement.
-
No universal scope: The limitation of coverage to
those persons present in a territory because they have by sent by a sending
State (i.e., those conducting official business).
-
Ratification: The agreement must be approved
according to the constitutional procedures of each individual state.
In addition, the Council emphasized that the "Rome
Statute provides all necessary safeguards against the use of the Court for
politically motivated purposes," which is the chief expressed concern
of the U.S. Noting that the U.S. is entitled to be an observer to the
Assembly of States Parties, the Council expressed interest in seeing the U.S.
re-engage with the ICC process. See
+ REPORT OF THE EU COUNCIL (see page 9 for the ICC
conclusions).
African-Caribbean-Pacific
Group of States/European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly:
At its meeting in Brazzaville (31 March - 3 April, 2003), the ACP-EU Joint
Parliamentary Assembly adopted a strong resolution in support of the ICC and
against the U.S. proposed agreements, stating in part, "the current
world-wide political pressure exerted by the Government of the USA to persuade
States Parties and Signatory States of the Rome Statute, as well as nonsignatory
states, to enter into bilateral immunity agreements which seek, through the
misuse of Article 98, to prevent U.S. government officials, employees, military
personnel or nationals from being surrendered to the ICC, should not succeed
with any country, in particular with the EU or ACP Member States."
+ RESOLUTION
TEXT
Germany
and Canada
These two important allies have explicitly refused to consider U.S. impunity
agreements. On November 4, 2002, Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham announced
that Canada considers an existing agreement covering the conduct of U.S.
personnel on Canadian soil sufficient to meet U.S. concerns. After the Council
of the European Union released its conclusions on September 30, 2002, German
Foreign Minister Fisher announced that "We [Germany] are against the
conclusion of special agreements and we will not conclude such an agreement."
More recently, Germany has released its own analysis and interpretation of the
EU conclusions.
+ GERMAN PAPER (in English)
European
Parliament
On September 26, 2002, the European Parliament (the elected legislative
body representing the 15 EU nations) issued a resolution expressing regret over
UN Security Council 1422 and stating that "no immunity agreement should
ever afford the possibility of impunity for any individual accused of war
crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide." The resolution underlines
that international treaty law prohibits States Parties from entering into
"immunity agreements," expresses disappointment over the Romanian
agreement with the U.S., and warns potential members that "ratifying
such an agreement is incompatible with membership of the EU."
+ RESOLUTION TEXT
Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe
On September 25, 2002, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (a
deliberative body with proportional representation from 44 European democracies)
issued a resolution expressing concern over "the efforts of some States to
undermine the integrity of the ICC Treaty" by concluding "exemption
agreements." The Parliamentary Assembly urged member and observer states
not to enter into any bilateral exemption agreements, which it considers
"not admissible" under international treaty law. Specifically, the
resolution calls on Romania not ratify its agreement with the US and encourages
the US to "join the majority of democratic States in their support for the
ICC."
+
RESOLUTION 1300: "Risks for the integrity of the Statute of the
International Criminal Court."
+
TAKE ACTION
|
