Citizens for Global Solutions

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND JUSTICE | No More Renewals

U.S. Withdraws Its Demands for Peacekeeping Exemption Renewal

June 23, 2004 -- The same day that the International Criminal Court announced its first formal investigation (into atrocities committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the U.S. finally withdrew its request at the UN Security Council to renew Resolution 1487. Resolution 1487 (2003), itself a renewal of Resolution 1422 (2002), exempted all current and former officials and personnel from non-ICC countries (like the U.S.) serving in UN missions from the ICC's jurisdiction. It expires June 30, 2004.

For the last two years, Security Council members and dozens of other countries have expressed their strong disapproval of these resolutions in open debates. Many American allies maintained that the resolutions were unnecessary, illegal under the UN Charter, and a threat to the integrity of both the ICC and UN peacekeeping. Despite Bush administration insistence that the resolution should be a "technical rollover," Security Council members had already made clear that the resolution would not be renewed indefinitely.

While securing the passage of Resolution 1422 and Resolution 1487 was a diplomatic challenge for the U.S. in past years, the stakes were raised even higher this year by the recent Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, the Secretary General's vocal opposition to the resolution, and the U.S. interest in maintaining Council unity following the successful passage of the Iraq resolution.

However, the U.S. is already signaling intent to withdraw support from UN peacekeeping missions as a result. Following the decision to withdraw its request, the U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN stated that "In the absence of a new resolution, the United States will need to take into account the risk of ICC review when determining contributions to UN authorized or established operations." In the past, the U.S. has insisted that an ICC exemption be included in resolutions authorizing specific peacekeeping missions, like that for Liberia, and it secured the passage of the original ICC exemption resolution (1422) by vetoing the Bosnia peacekeeping mission and threatening to veto all subsequent peacekeeping resolutions unless its demands were met.

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