After the States Parties decide to add a new crime or change the definition of an existing crime, any State that is a party to the treaty can decide to immunize its officials from prosecution for the new or amended crime. Officials of non-parties, however, are subject to immediate prosecution. For a criminal court, this is an indefensible overreach of jurisdiction. Likewise, there will be some who regard the idea that State Parties can opt out of prosecution for war crimes for seven years, while non-parties cannot, as an incentive to join the court. We have other fundamental concerns, such as the inclusion of an undefined crime of aggression.
Aggression carries with it an extremely problematic process of definition.
How this issue will be resolved is too unclear for so important an issue. Mr. Chairman, Having considered the matter with great care, the United States will not sign the treaty in its present form. Nor is there any prospect of our signing the present treaty text in the future. There are a number of important issues that this Committee will address in its resolution on the Preparatory Commission. We agreed in Rome that the Preparatory Commission sessions can be funded from the United Nations annual budget.