I condemn Bush Admin's Decision to Disengage US from ICC
From: "Sam Ghandchi" <ghandchi@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun May 5, 2002 4:25 pm
Subject: I condemn Bush Admin's Decision to Disengage US
from ICC
I condemn the decision of the Bush administration of not
ratifying the
International Criminal Court treaty and of disengaging the US from
the ICC.
********************************The news********************************
Powell: U.S. Will Disengage From World Criminal Court
Sun May 5, 1:26 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) confirmed on Sunday that the United States will disengage from a treaty that would set up an international criminal court.
"Within the next day or so, the United States will notify the secretary-general of the United Nations (news - web sites), Kofi Annan (news - web sites), that we will not ratify it, that we have no intention of ratifying the international criminal court treaty," Powell said on ABC's "This Week."
Congressional and non-governmental sources told Reuters on Friday that the Bush administration intended to withdraw its involvement from a process that has drawn up a framework for the first world tribunal to prosecute people for war crimes, genocide and other gross human-rights violations.
The United States argues the treaty could be used against U.S. military personnel and the court would not be accountable to the United Nations or any other body, Powell said.
"We found that this was not a situation that we believed was appropriate for our men and women in the armed forces or our diplomats and political leaders," he said.
The court became reality on April 11 when the number of countries ratifying the treaty crossed the 60 mark. It is expected to go into operation next year in The Hague (news - web sites), Netherlands.
Former President Bill Clinton signed the treaty on his last day in office, but did not send it to the Senate for ratification, and recommended that the Bush Administration do the same. By signing the treaty, the U.S. was able to take part in consultations about how the court would be set up.
Powell said that because the United States has never intended to fully ratify the treaty, it was only appropriate to formally notify the United Nations.
"Since we have no intention of ratifying it, it is appropriate for us, because we have such serious problems with the ICC, to notify the depository, (the) Secretary General, that we do not intend to ratify it, and therefore we are no longer bound in any way to its purpose and objective," he said.