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AQUARIAN AGE · Austrian Peacekeeper Joined: 22 Dec 2001 Posts: 612

Quote:
U.N. Grants War Crimes Exemption

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:39 p.m. ET

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States won another yearlong exemption Thursday for American peacekeepers from prosecution by a new U.N. war crimes tribunal. But the European Union warned the immunity wouldn't be permanent.

The Bush administration argues that the International Criminal Court -- established last year and expecting to start operating later this year -- could be used for frivolous or politically motivated prosecution of American troops. In addition to seeking the U.N. exemption, Washington has signed bilateral agreements with 37 countries not to prosecute American officials and is seeking more.

Unlike last year, when an initial one-year exemption received unanimous U.N. Security Council backing after a bitter battle, the United States faced opposition Thursday from France, Germany, Syria and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The final vote was 12-0, with France, Germany and Syria abstaining on grounds that there is no need for a U.S. exemption because the court provides safeguards against the prosecution of peacekeepers. France, a permanent council member, chose not to use its veto.

Last week, the United States warned the EU that its criticism over the exemption request was further straining the bitter trans-Atlantic division over the war against Iraq. France and Germany, which led opposition to the war and strongly back the court, ignored the warning.

The U.N. court will prosecute cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed after July 1, 2002, but will step in only when countries are unwilling or unable to dispense justice themselves. It is the culmination of a campaign for a permanent war crimes tribunal that began with the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

The Clinton administration signed the 1998 Rome Treaty to form the court but the Bush administration rescinded the U.S. signature.

After Thursday's vote, U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham called the court ``a fatally flawed institution'' and said Washington will seek to continue the exemptions.

During last year's fight, the United States threatened to end far-flung peacekeeping operations established or authorized by the United Nations -- from Afghanistan and the Middle East to Bosnia and Sierra Leone -- if it didn't get an exemption.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened Thursday's pre-vote meeting by speaking strongly against any attempt to make the exemption permanent.

``If that were to happen, it would undermine not only the authority of the ICC but also the authority of this council and the legitimacy of United Nations peacekeeping,'' he warned.

Annan said he could accept an extension this year, because the court is in its infancy. But he argued that the exemption violates the Rome statute and was unnecessary because no peacekeeper ever committed ``anywhere near the kind of crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC.''

Eighteen non-council nations from Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Mideast and elsewhere also spoke in support of the court.

Greece's U.N. ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis, speaking on behalf of the 15-nation European Union, put the United States on notice that ``automatic renewal would be undermining to the letter and the spirit of the Rome Treaty and its fundamental purpose.''

All 15 EU nations are among the 90 countries that are party to the court.

Britain -- a key U.S. ally -- voted for the resolution but told the council afterward that it ``remains a strong supporter of the ICC.''

While Britain understands U.S. concerns about the court, ``we do not share them,'' U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said. The resolution is ``an exceptional measure. It is not permanent.''