US Must Submit to International Court
Published in The Universe
(July 28, 2002)
HOW ironic that the United States a leader in articulating the principles of
International law that created the Nuremberg International Military tribunal
that tried the Nazi war criminals after World War II is the only nation in
the world to repudiate it signature on international agreement setting up
the International Criminal Court. It came in to existence officially last
July 1,2002 in The Hague.
President Bill Clinton signed the agreement but George W. Bush had cast that
aside. The US refuses to accept the court and stands alone against the other
14 members of the UN Security Council. It is using the US veto to block the
renewal of the mandate of UN Peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and elsewhere in
a effort to get blanket immunity from prosecution for it’s own troops when
serving abroad.
However, the Security Council is rightly standing firm and will not concede
such an unheard of privilege. Even Britain a close US ally has not caved in
to the US on this vital issue. A total of 69 nations have ratified it
already and more will soon do so.
The ICC has been the result of many years of work by nations and over 1000
global organizations that see this as a milestone in the history of
civilization. Any civilian, officer, soldier, or head of state will be
liable to prosecution for human rights violations, including systematic
murder, torture rape and sexual slavery. Despots and tyrants carrying out
the most atrocious and unspeakable crimes will be brought before the court.
No crimes previous to July 1 will be prosecuted.
The United States government claims that their troops could be dragged to
court on politically motivated charges.
It is an infringement of their sovereignty they say yet
There are several safeguards to prevent such abuses.
A prosecution can only be brought if the nation’s judiciary fails to prosecute
the violators themselves. Others argue that the US, if honestly committed to
peacekeeping it can just withdraw its forces and allow the others to get on
with the peacekeeping.
Immunity from prosecution for all US personnel is a key element in any
military agreement the US makes with other nations. They will not submit
their troops to the courts of another nation. However, that was successfully
challenged by Japan when three hulking marines abducted and raped a teenage
schoolgirl near Okinawa Marine base in Japan a few years ago. The US
military suffered weeks of humiliating testimony the accused were convicted
and sentenced in Japan. It was a matter of sovereignty for the proud
Japanese people.
In the Philippines, it has been the reverse. In 1982, a child prostitution
ring was uncovered in Olongapo City by Social workers of the Preda
Foundation. Children as young a nine were being systematically sold as
prostitutes to the US military personnel. Despite intense pressure, we
exposed the ring and identified one of the culprits a US junior officer. He
had been whisked out of the Philippines by the US Navy but due to public
pressure was brought to trial before a US court martial in Guam, a US
territory in the pacific. The jurisdiction of the Philippines where the
crime against the 12 Filipino children was perpetrated was not recognized.
In Kosovo a few years ago, a US major was accused of raping a murdering a
teenager. He was handed over to the US authorities. That being the procedure
the US ought to have no problem in accepting the International Criminal
Court. Last August 2001 Dutch, Croatian and Italian UN troops were found to
be systematically abusing 9 years old
children as prostitutes in Eritrea.
Apologists for the US say that because it is such a dominant world power and
projects it’s military force to every corner of the world it is going to be
more vulnerable to baseless charges of war crimes.
That is more of an argument for the need to subject the US troops to the
deterrent power of the court, precisely because they intervene everywhere
they are more likely to overstep the bounds and violate human rights. They
are soon to move into the front line in the Philippines in the war campaign
against the bandits that kidnapped American Missionaries. It is conceivable
that they could be involved in a massacre such as the Vietnam era atrocity
at Mai Lai where Lt. Cally led a platoon that massacred an entire village.
The US needs the International Court not only to curb tyrants and despots
but also to curb their own excesses. end.
