Aid threatened as US fights war crimes court - World - www.smh.com.au



Aid threatened as US fights war crimes court
By Colum Lynch in New York
November 27, 2004

The Republican-controlled US Congress has stepped up its campaign to curtail the power of the International Criminal Court by threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to governments that refuse to sign immunity accords that shield US personnel from being surrendered to the tribunal.

The move marks an escalation in US efforts to ensure that the first world criminal court can never judge US citizens for crimes committed overseas.

More than two years ago Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which cut millions of dollars in military assistance to many countries that would not sign the Article 98 agreements, as they are known, that undertake not to transfer to the court US nationals accused of war crimes.

A provision inserted into a $US338 billion ($425 billion) government spending bill for next year would bar the transfer of assistance money from the $US2.5 billon economic support fund to a government "that is a party" to the criminal court but "has not entered into an agreement with the United States" to bar legal proceedings against US personnel. Legislators are to vote on the budget on December 8.

Congress's action may affect US development programs designed to promote peace, combat drug trafficking, and promote democracy and economic reforms in poor countries.

The legislation includes a national security waiver that would allow President George Bush to exempt members of NATO and other key allies, including Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Argentina, South Korea, New Zealand or Taiwan. The waiver was added after the State Department raised concern the cuts could undermine programs that advance US foreign policy.

The criminal court was established by treaty in 1998 to prosecute perpetrators of the most serious crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The treaty has been signed by 139 countries and ratified by 97.

The Clinton administration signed the treaty in December 2000, but the Bush Administration renounced it in May 2001. It says it fears that an international prosecutor might conduct frivolous investigations and trials against US officials, troops and foreign nationals sent overseas on behalf of the US.

"This is a body based in The Hague where unaccountable judges and prosecutors could pull our troops, our diplomats up for trial," Mr Bush said in his first re-election campaign debate with Senator John Kerry.

Washington's important European allies, including Britain, France and Germany, have opposed the US move on the grounds that it undermines the treaty.

The court's advocates say the tribunal was created to hold future despots in the ranks of Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Idi Amin accountable for mass killings.

The Washington Post