U.S. committed to combating war crimes
Regional-USA, Politics, 4/5/2002

The United States remains committed to combating war crimes around the world even though it will not participate in the International Criminal Court (ICC), says the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues.

The United States "will use all efforts at our disposal to end these abuses as they occur and hold perpetrators accountable. We believe there must be accountability for war crimes in a credible, appropriate judicial mechanism," Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper said at a press conference at the New York Foreign Press Center March 28.

The United Nations expects the 60th ratification needed to bring into force a treaty establishing the Hague-based International Criminal Court by the second week in April. The treaty will then enter into force on July 1. The court -- which will have jurisdiction over such crimes as genocide, war crimes, the crime of aggression, and crimes against humanity -- will have 18 judges as well as prosecutors and investigators.

Prosper said the United States has made clear -- during both the Clinton and Bush Administrations -- that it opposes the ICC despite having been a prime mover in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The United States believes that the ICC "is flawed and that there are insufficient safeguards in place to prevent a political prosecution rather than a prosecution based on law and fact," he said.

The Bush Administration is in the final stages of policy review of the ICC and will be announcing its final position soon. That final position will explain to the international community the U.S. view on accountability for war crimes, what the United States will do in order to protect its interests, and will confirm the U.S. commitment to combating war crimes as they occur, Prosper said.

All states have a responsibility to take action against war crimes, he said. "They must punish those who violate the laws of war."

"We, the United States, will play a role in encouraging the states to accept responsibility. We will help them in building the capacity where needed and where it is appropriate in order to combat these abuses," Prosper said.

"We do not want to see abdication of responsibility [by individual states] and we do not want to see the responsibility taken away from the states," he added.

When the Clinton Administration signed the ICC treaty, the United States believed that signing would increase the level of cooperation and the possibility for negotiation on the troubling issues between the United States and other ICC signatories at preparatory committee meetings.

"We have negotiated in good faith since 1998 on this matter," Prosper said, but the United States has not been able to achieve the changes in the treaty "that we have felt are appropriate...in order to secure the safeguards we feel we need."

Nevertheless, the United States is "committed to prosecuting war crimes. That has not changed," the ambassador said.

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