International Criminal Court to Come Into Force:
US's Rejectionist Position Reveals Disdain for Human Rights
New York, April 9, 2002 - On Thursday, 11 April 2002, the four remaining ratifications needed to bring into force the treaty creating the world's first permanent international criminal court will be finalized at a ceremony conducted by the United Nations Treaty Office. Cambodia, Ireland, Jordan and Romania have confirmed their ratifications on April 11 and seven others have indicated that they intend to take part in the ceremony. These ratifications will exceed the 60 required to bring the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court into force, which will have been accomplished less than four years after the treaty was adopted.
The Bush Administration is expected to announce its formal opposition to the International Criminal Court. Last year, President Bush signed into law two pieces of legislation that prohibit any support or assistance to the future Court and to the ongoing process toward its establishment. Ranking officials in the Administration have indicated that President Bush may 'unsign' the treaty, something that has never been done before.
MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization and sponsor of the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice of the International Criminal Court, condemns the Bush Administration’s hostility towards the Court. We view the US position as dangerously disdainful of human rights and multi-lateralism, which should be the twin pillars of international relations.
Indeed, US hostility towards the Court stems from the fact that US nationals would be subject to the Court’s rulings (the US tried unsuccessfully to achieve exemptions for US nationals) and from the fact that the Court will be independent of the UN Security Council, where the US could utilize its veto to eliminate cases from the Court’s docket.
US opposition to an important new institution for safeguarding and enforcing human rights is part of a long-standing pattern. The US has consistently avoided accountability for human rights violations stemming from its foreign policy. Consider, for example, the massacres of Korean and Vietnamese civilians by US forces, the mining of Nicaragua’s harbors, and the denial of food and medicine to the people of Cuba and Iraq, all committed with the impunity of the powerful. The US has also consistently used its seat on the Security Council to ensure that human rights violations of its close allies go unpunished. In the case of Israel, for example, the US has vetoed over 30 UN resolutions condemning Israeli human rights violations and violations of international law.
MADRE, together with the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice, will continue to work to ensure that the particular nature of gender-based crimes is recognized by the Court and that crimes against women are properly addressed. MADRE celebrates the creation of the International Criminal Court as a critical new tool in the defense of human rights for women and their families around the world.
