What Hope for a International Criminal Court?

NINETY nations have so far approved the treaty and charter of the International Criminal Court and, in April, its first chief prosecutor, the greatly esteemed jurist Luis Moreno Ocampo from Argentina, took the oath of office.

It is significant and right that the first chief prosecutor is from the south and not the north – or from the western nations who have for too long dominated the international community and its agencies and organizations.

Be that it may, one significant nation of great influence which was absent from the simple ceremony was the United States of America.
This is a terrible time for the good people of America because its government under George W. Bush has withdrawn from many international agreements and treaties and refuses to have anything to do with the International Criminal Court.

In fact administration diplomats are trying to get more and more nations to sign agreements that will not allow any complaints against a US citizen to be files at the court.

This is amazing because it was the United States of America that set up the first such court – the Nuremberg trials – which tried the Nazi was criminals. Besides, human rights workers and their defenders across the world have looked to the US as a defender of human rights oppressors – at least in the past.

Now the present administration pays little more than lip service to these noble ideals when it is in its interests to do so. But it is, we hope, only a passing administration and the great tradition of the America we know and love, as the respecter and defender of the oppressed, will be revived.

On June 26, we marked the UN International Day in support of the Victims of Torture and we welcome the fact that the ICC is now finally set up and running as the dispenser of global justice and how timely too.

Thousands of victims who died horrifying deaths under torture and brutality will perhaps finally get a little justice. All too late in most cases but the fact that the criminals – usually dictators and military tyrants – can be brought to justice and may face imprisonment may act as a deterrent.

The ICC is mandated to investigate and prosecute those who are found to be responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Belgium can be proud of the fact that it has a special law that allows suspects of genocide or other crimes against humanity to be brought to trial. The US is opposed to this and is pressuring the Belgian government to scale back its laws in case they are used to bring to trial American suspects.

Earlier this month the Bush administration was able to get a one-year extension of a special exemption for its troops engaged in UN peace operations. This is a prelude to attempting to have their troops permanently exempted. The policy of the US is to cut off all financial assistance to nations who had not signed an agreement never to send a US citizen for trial to the ICC. That is just one indication of how strongly the ultra conservative officials in Washington feel about this. They believe it is an infringement of their sovereignty.

We have to uphold in every way the institution of global justice for the hapless victims of cruel dictators. But, better that that, it is to be more involved in taking a stand for justice whenever we see an act of cruelty, oppression and injustice in our own community. What is upheld locally has a greater of being upheld globally.

Fr. Shay Cullen of Ireland is a Columban Father working in the Philippines since 1969. PREDA (www.preda.org) was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

By Fr. Shay Cullen
Published in the COLUMBAN MISSION
February 2003 Issue