Free Republic

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court will consider today whether American courts are bound by the decisions of the International Court of Justice, a tribunal created by the United Nations and based in The Hague. Senator Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, cited today's case as one impetus for the introduction last week of a resolution in the Senate that would instruct federal courts to avoid looking to international and foreign law when interpreting the federal Constitution. Mr. Cornyn filed one of many friend-of-the court briefs in the case, arguing that the Constitution reserves the power of judicial review to federal judges,...

When the International Criminal Court was set up in 2002, the Americans refused to recognise its authority. They explained their reluctance on the basis that to give overarching authority to an international court would not ensure that decisions on vital international issues were made by judges independent of political control. It would simply hand those decisions to another set of politicians with their own political agendas - which might be flatly opposed to the fundamental interests of the United States. Tony Blair passionately endorsed the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing that Britain must be subordinated to its...

The US Congress has launched a fresh attack on the international criminal court at The Hague, threatening to cut off development aid to countries who refuse to guarantee immunity from prosecution for Americans at the tribunal. Washington has withheld about $50m (£26m) in military aid to more than 30 countries, such as Benin, Croatia, Ecuador and Mali, which refused to sign exemption deals. But they and more than 40 other countries have resisted US demands on the grounds that immunity deals would clash with their domestic laws and international obligations. The new provision, included in a budget bill due for...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military is pulling small numbers of troops out of two U.N. peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and Africa because they are no longer exempt from prosecution in the International Criminal Court, the Pentagon said on Thursday. A seven-member team will be removed from a U.N. mission assigned to keep peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia and two liaison officers will be removed from the world body's mission in Kosovo, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told reporters. "In these two particular cases it was determined ... that the risk was not appropriate to our forces. And so they...

Translation: In the UN security council the arguments are becoming very heated. The US is again threatening to pull all of it's troops from all peacekeeping operatins if US citizens don't receive immunity from International court prosecution. This was verified by several western European diplomats. The argument over this action by the US is beginning to become very heated. Germany, France , Spain and several other nations are planning to veto any attempts by the US government regarding this resolution, where US citizens would be immune to International prosecution.

<p>The court at The Hague is the U.N.'s highest court of justice.</p> <p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The International Court of Justice in The Hague has ruled that the United States violated the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row and ordered their cases be reviewed.</p>

Did the UK commit war crimes in Iraq? January 21 2004 at 02:12AM By Peter Apps London - Britain's use of cluster bombs in the Iraq invasion could count as a war crime and justifies further investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor in the Hague, a group of international lawyers said on Tuesday. Seven academics from Britain, Ireland, France and Canada interviewed eyewitnesses and examined evidence to see if there was a case for referring British conduct to the court, said the pressure group Peacerights, which organised the review. "There is a considerable amount of evidence of disproportionate...

11 Jan 2004 13:53:48 GMT EU seeks Arabs support for int'l war crimes court -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Miral Fahmy SANAA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The European Union is lobbying Arab states to join a U.N.-backed international war crimes tribunal which as been shunned by the United States, an EU parliament member said on Sunday. Emma Bonino, who also heads the non-governmental group that has pushed for the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said the EU wanted Arab judges on the tribunal to make it as international as possible. "Arab countries were very active in the process of establishing the...

w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m Last update - 11:32 08/01/2004 The real battle in The Hague By Aluf Benn Israel will be present at the discussion about the separation fence in the International Court of Justice in The Hague mainly in order to lose honorably. Nobody in Jerusalem has any illusions that Israel can come out ahead in the decision by the 15 learned judges who were asked to express their opinion regarding "the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by...

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush (news - web sites) announced agreements with another four countries to exempt Americans from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, which it staunchly opposes. The 1998 Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court has been ratified by 90 countries, but the court faces opposition from the United States. Bush administration officials fear that Americans, particularly soldiers abroad, could fall victim to politically motivated prosecutions. The Bush administration has signed bilateral treaties with more than three dozen countries that have agreed not to hand over American citizens to the court. The latest, according to a statement...

December19 ,2003 Send Saddam to The Hague ! By: Uri Avnery*The spectacle was disgusting. “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it, and it displeaseth Him, and He turn away His wrath from him!” Thus commandeth the ancient Jewish moral code (Proverbs,24 ,16 ). The writer of this warning knew, of course, that every person tends to gloat when his enemy falls. But he wanted to point out that this is an ugly human trait and one should try to overcome it. And now a mighty world-power...

TEHRAN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Iran's government said on Monday it was preparing a criminal complaint to present at any international court that may try Saddam Hussein over the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. "The Foreign Ministry has taken some measures on this issue and has collected the necessary documents. I hope we can defend Iranians' rightful demands at a proper place," government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told a news conference. Around 300,000 Iranians were killed in the eight-year war, including thousands in chemical weapons attacks by the Iraqi army. U.S.-led troops ousted Saddam, the Iraqi dictator, in April and captured him on...

International Criminal Court Will Hear its First Case Next Year Despite International Controversy, Says Crimes of War Project 12/9/03 3:19:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National and International desks Contact: Elisa Munoz, 202-494-3834 or elisa@crimesofwar.org; Anthony Dworkin, 44-2-0-78133631, or anthony@crimesofwar.org; both of the Crimes of War Project; http://www.crimesofwar.org WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The International Criminal Court inaugurated on July 1, 2002, will hear its first case next year. The court has been hailed by some as a milestone in international justice and damned by others, notably the United States, as an intolerable attack on sovereignty. However, according to the...

<p>Deputy Secretary of State John R. Bolton yesterday accused the European Union of using pressure to make it difficult for countries to exempt American personnel from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.</p> <p>Mr. Bolton said the European group is imposing an unfair choice on U.S. friends and allies that want to join the 15-nation political and economic union and in that effort are urged to reconsider cooperating with the United States.</p>

The United States aims to secure agreements "with every country in the world" guaranteeing immunity for its citizens from any prosecution from the new International Criminal Court (ICC), and will cut off military aid to countries which do not comply. In an uncompromising defence of Washington's decision to shun the court, Under Secretary of State John Bolton announced yesterday that the US has already reached so-called Article 98 exemption agreements, under the Rome statutes setting up the ICC, with 70 countries; 50 of them among the ICC's 90 signatories. Speaking at the conservative thinktank, the American Enterprise Institute, Mr Bolton...

SKOPJE, Oct 16 (AFP) - The Macedonian parliament on Thursday ratified an agreement with the United States to protect US citizens here from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), officials said. Seventy eight of the 80 deputies present in the 120-seat parliament voted in favour of the agreement which was signed in Washington in June this year. Deputy Foreign Minister Fuad Hasanovic told parliament the agreement, which would prevent Macedonia extraditing US citizens to the ICC, would not affect Skopje's relations with the European Union. Brussels is a strong supporter of the court and has voiced its opposition to...

<p>NEW YORK &#8212; The Bush administration has negotiated agreements protecting Americans from prosecution by the International Criminal Court with more than five dozen nations, knitting together a partial shield to protect U.S. citizens from politically motivated prosecutions.</p> <p>As of this week, 68 governments have signed treaties with the United States promising not to surrender American soldiers, lawmakers or civilians to the court's jurisdiction. About half of these countries are parties to the ICC.</p>

   http://writ.findlaw.com/commentary/20030908_cohn.html ----How the Bush Administration's Opposition to the International Criminal Court Has Put Peacekeepers and Others in DangerBy MARJORIE COHN ---- Monday, Sep. 08, 2003 Even after the recent, tragic attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, the U.S. was not willing to unreservedly support a U.N. Security Council resolution to help protect U.N. and other humanitarian workers. Instead, the U.S. greenlighted the resolution only when its reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) was deleted. It's not the first time that the U.S. has put its pigheaded opposition to the ICC before other important goals: Last year,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "Sentence first, verdict afterwards!" the Queen decrees in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," a miscarriage of justice to which poor Alice attempts to object. "Hold your tongue!" the queen retorts, before adding, "Off with her head!" That may be amusing in a children's book. It is far less so when it describes the judicial philosophy of the United Nation's misbegotten International Criminal Court (ICC). Created by the so-called Statute of Rome in 1998, the ICC was ratified by fewer than one-third of the world's nations, representing only 17 percent of the world's population. In the closing moments...

International Kangaroo CourtBy John PerazzoFrontPageMagazine.com | July 30, 2003 The International Criminal Court, designed to prosecute the perpetrators of genocide, may soon be unleashed against the world’s leading defenders of human rights: the United States and Great Britain. Although the United States has immunity from prosecution at this time, cases already pending at the ICC and other EU courts show the danger American troops – and commanders – would face if they ever become subject to an international court’s jurisdiction. These cases also demonstrate how the Left is willing to abuse and trivialize forums meant to end genuine human misery...

The International Criminal Court, designed to prosecute the perpetrators of genocide, may soon be unleashed against the world’s leading defenders of human rights: the United States and Great Britain. Although the United States has immunity from prosecution at this time, cases already pending at the ICC and other EU courts show the danger American troops – and commanders – would face if they ever become subject to an international court’s jurisdiction. These cases also demonstrate how the Left is willing to abuse and trivialize forums meant to end genuine human misery in order to make a political point.Ending the...

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Bush administration questioned European objections to U.S. efforts to exempt Americans from the new international war crimes tribunal, saying they seek similar guarantees for their own citizens sent to foreign hot spots. The Bush administration fiercely opposes the International Criminal Court, fearing politically motivated indictments against Americans. "Frankly, when we look at what our European friends do in similar situations, they too insist on a scope which is not unlike what we are talking about," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lincoln Bloomfield Jr., told reporters in Brussels, where he was meeting with European Union officials to...

The international community cried crocodile tears when the United States withdrew its support of the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC). Supporters of the court laughed when the US expressed concern that our soldiers could be prosecuted for war crimes. Great Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, lobbied President Bush to reconsider US withdrawal. The US, however, at President Bush's direction, withdrew from the 1998 Rome Statute that established the Court. The action was necessary because, as one of his last acts of office, former President Clinton had committed the US to the ICC, yet another totally unaccountable UN bureaucracy guaranteed to...

ICC-INDIA: THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PRESS STATEMENT, 3 January 2003 INDIA JOINS THE UNITED STATES IN ITS WAR AGAINST THE ICC At a time when eighty-seven countries around the world have shown their support for establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC),India has moved a giant step backwards. On 26th December 2002, it entered into an agreement with the United States not to extradite each other’s nationals to “any international tribunal without the other country’s express consent.”The agreement has been signed at the initiative of the United States and gives a tremendous boost to the US efforts at...

ATHENS: Countries set to join the European Union have opted to defy the United States and follow the EU in supporting a controversial international war crimes court, the Greek EU presidency said yesterday. The move comes as Washington continues to seek bilateral agreements exempting Americans from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), notably with former communist and developing countries. In the face of a US boycott of the court, EU leaders meeting in Greece last week reaffirmed their commitment to the ICC, the first permanent international court for cases of warcrimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. A statement from...

Should the United States permit Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of allied forces in Iraq, to be prosecuted in Belgium for alleged war crimes committed during the recent war? Most Americans would say, "You have to be kidding; that could never happen." But little Belgium, trying to be a player on the world stage, has adopted what it calls a universal-jurisdiction law. It purports to give Belgium jurisdiction over war crimes committed anywhere in the world and give Belgian judges the authority to hear complaints brought by anyone. Already on file are complaints not only against Gen. Franks, but also...

WorldNetDaily / Commentary U.S.-U.N. struggle moves to ICCHenry Lamb Posted: June 21, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com The media spotlight has dimmed on the conflict between the United States and the United Nations Security Council. The conflict has now moved behind the scenes and spread to the International Criminal Court, created in Rome in 1998. In an unprecedented action, President Bush withdrew the U.S. signature from the Rome Statute in May 2002. The European Union, joined by the United Nations Association and the World Federalist Association, launched scathing criticism. When the court officially came into existence on July 1, 2002,...

Belgium Gets War Crimes Cases Against Bush/Blair 37 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium said on Thursday it had received lawsuits against President Bush (news - web sites) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) under a controversial war crimes law. But it said it had forwarded the cases to the defendants' countries, reducing their chances of reaching a court. Belgium has come under harsh criticism especially from the United States for the law, which empowers its courts to try foreigners for serious war and human rights crimes no...

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Belgium's foreign minister said Friday the country has already amended its war crimes laws to avoid politically inspired lawsuits against U.S. officials, an issue that has strained relations between the two NATO allies U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld threatened Thursday to withhold money for a new NATO headquarters and ban Americans from attending alliance meetings unless Belgium changes a law under which U.S. Army commander Tommy Franks was charged with war crimes.Speaking on the VRT radio network, Louis Michel said the 1994 legislation — that lets Belgian courts hear genocide charges regardless of where they...

U.S. funding for new NATO buildings may be withdrawn because of a law that permits foreigners to be tried for war crimes in Belgian courts, no matter where the alleged acts are committed. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that he would oppose money for a new headquarters in Brussels until U.S. officials could be certain that they could travel to the country without fear of prosecution. "Belgium has turned its legal system into a platform for divisive politicized lawsuits against her NATO allies," Rumsfeld told reporters at a press conference following a meeting of alliance defense ministers. "We will...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium showed signs of buckling on its controversial war crimes law on Friday, after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld vowed to block spending on NATO's new headquarters in Brussels unless it was revoked. Defense Minister Andre Flahaut said the country's universal jurisdiction law, which has been used to file suits against several senior current or former U.S. officials, could perhaps be revised for a second time to end the standoff. Washington's closest ally, Britain, stood behind the public tongue-lashing that Rumsfeld dealt to Belgium on Thursday, but stopped short of saying it would also hold up work on...

American peacekeepers will remain – for the time being, anyway -- outside the jurisdiction of a controversial United Nations-sponsored global war-crimes tribunal, though the U.N. decision today further strained relations between the United States and European allies. The Security Council voted 12-0 to approve a U.S.-backed proposal to extend for another year an agreement exempting U.S. military and civilian peacekeeping forces from being tried by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. U.S. Army trooper mans a checkpoint in Bosnia in 1996 As expected, however, Germany and France – along with Syria – abstained from voting for today's resolution,...

<p>The U.N. Security Council exempted American soldiers on overseas peacekeeping missions from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court (ICC), despite opposition from France, Germany and Syria.</p> <p>The one-year blanket exemption, approved on a 12-0 vote with three abstentions, gives Washington more time to sign bilateral agreements with nations that are parties to the ICC protecting Americans on their territory.</p>

  Immunity for U.S. Soldiers Berlin is apparently risking new problems with Washington in the UN Just recently it seemed that the German-American relations were becoming friendly again. But now new trouble is brewing: Berlin allegedly wants to refuse consent in the United Nations Security Council if the USA wants to push forward with the immunity of its blue helmet soldiers before the international criminal court. AP The Hague: The International Criminal Court The German press agency [dpa, lj] reports, citing diplomatic circles, that possibly, France will also abstain in the vote on the extension of UN Resolution 1422 proposed...

US clashes with Europe over war crimes By David Usborne in New York 11 June 2003 The United States and several European countries are once again on a collision course at the United Nations, as Washington manoeuvres to renew controversial provisions that shield its troops from prosecution for war crimes. The US is trying to keep its troops beyond the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court whenever they participate in international peace-keeping operations. The Security Council is set to vote as early as tomorrow on a US-drafted resolution that will extend for another 12 months a one-year exemption for American...

The United States has signed a deal with Bhutan giving US citizens in the country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday. The deal with Bhutan brings to 34 the number of countries with which the United States has signed so-called "Article 98" agreements exempting US citizens from the court's jurisdiction, said Lynn Cassel, a department spokesman. Bhutan and Bosnia-Herzegovina both agreed to the pacts on May 16 but the deal with Thimphu was not announced until Tuesday. Washington refuses to support the ICC, arguing that it could become a forum for politically...

Bosnia Pledges Not to Surrender Americans to New International Criminal Court VOA News 16 May 2003, 20:31 UTC Bosnia-Herzegovina and the United States have signed an agreement under which Bosnia pledged not to surrender Americans to the new International Criminal Court in The Hague. U.S. Ambassador to Sarajevo Clifford Bond and Bosnian Justice Minister Slobodan Kovac signed the treaty Friday. American Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was on hand in Sarajevo for the signing during a visit to the Bosnian capital. Sarajevo was the first stop of the U.S. official's European trip that will also take him to Kosovo, Macedonia,...

We will handle trials, say Americans By David Rennie in Washington (Filed: 08/04/2003) The United States has the "sovereign right" to prosecute Iraqi leaders for war crimes in its own courts, and will not hand Saddam Hussein or his henchmen to any international tribunal, senior American officials said yesterday. A prisoner is escorted back to his cell at Guatanamo Bay where the US has sole jurisdiction over the suspected terrorists held In a move likely to alarm Downing Street, senior Pentagon and State Department officials summoned reporters to hear a pre-emptive rejection of any role for the International Criminal Court...

'Illegal war' could mean soldiers face prosecutionBy Robert Verkaik Legal Affairs Correspondent 12 March 2003Ministers face the real prospect of waging an illegal war, which could lead to British soldiers being prosecuted by the newly constituted International Criminal Court (ICC). The shaky legal grounds upon which Britain and America are expected to launch their military offensive have already been exposed by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan. But Mr Annan's warning that military action against Iraq without a second UN resolution would be illegal is being supported by a growing number of senior British lawyers. Stephen Solley QC, an international...

March 12, 2003 World Court for Crimes of War Opens in The HagueBy MARLISE SIMONS HE HAGUE, March 11 — Fiercely opposed by the Bush administration and long awaited by other countries, a new and permanent international criminal court for dealing with dictators and war criminals formally opened today with the swearing in of its bench of 18 judges. The court's task will be to try individuals — not nations or armies — accused of large-scale crimes against civilians. The judges, 11 men and 7 women from all over the world, will be part of what was called today the...

The United States showed its opposition to the new International Criminal Court (ICC) set up at The Hague to try war crimes by boycotting its inauguration ceremony yesterday.The American ambassador to the Netherlands, Clifford Sobel, refused to attend the gathering, which was hosted at The Hague by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general.Mr Annan said the ICC, billed as the descendent of the tribunal at Nuremberg set up after the Second World War, was "the embodiment of our collective conscience". But the US, which claims its servicemen could be targeted by politically motivated...

<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan inaugurates the first permanent global war crimes court on Tuesday. But Washington -- which opposes the tribunal -- is staying away.</p> <p>The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix will swear in the court's 18 judges, who were elected last month by its 89 member countries.</p>

The Hague The inauguration of the first eighteen judges at the new International Criminal Court (ICC) will help to thwart U.S. efforts to undermine the court, Human Rights Watch said today. The judges are the first officers of the court to take up their duties. The court’s 89 members, known as States Parties, will select a prosecutor at the end of April. "The judges’ inauguration makes this court more unstoppable than ever," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s international justice program. The U.S. State Department is increasing pressure on many governments to obtain what are known as "bilateral...

The world's first permanent war crimes tribunal has been inaugurated in The Hague with the swearing-in of its judges. The 11 men and seven women will preside over the International Criminal Court (ICC), set up to try individuals accused of heinous atrocities. They were sworn in at a ceremony attended by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, heads of government and foreign ministers. But despite the uplifting words at the inauguration, numerous countries, including the United States, have refused to endorse the new court, fearing it will be used for politically-motivated prosecutions. In addition, the...

THE HAGUE, March 11 (Reuters) - The first global criminal court holds its inaugural session on Tuesday when judges are sworn in, but the United States will show its hostility to the tribunal by staying away. Human rights groups hail the International Criminal Court (ICC) as world justice's biggest step since an international military tribunal in Nuremberg tried Nazi leaders after World War Two. Washington, fearing its troops could face politically motivated prosecutions, strongly opposes the ICC and has declined an invitation to join U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and hundreds of other guests at the inaugural session. "We won't be...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 10 (UPI) -- The first world court capable of trying war criminals and brutal dictators opens its doors for business in The Hague Tuesday in an attempt to ensure that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished.The International Criminal Court, which was set up in 1998, will be formally inaugurated by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at a ceremony in the Dutch parliament.The U.N. court's 18 judges will also be sworn in at the high-level event, which is due to be attended by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and...