Dear Friends, The following was released in the United Press International, reporting on the final week of the ICC signature deadline. Full news below. It was quiet when Iran signed, but then came the United States and Israel, and the media circus followed. U.S. commitment to the ICC will require Congressional approval. Conservatives are dead set against it, saying it puts at risk U.S. citizens, particularly soldiers and politicians, who could suffer politically-motivated prosecution, and President elect George W. Bush has already voiced his opposition.
Supporters disagree, however, citing built-in safeguards in the treaty.
On the contrary, it is designed only to protect those most vulnerable people whose own government, if they have one, is unable or unwilling to prosecute those who violate their most fundamental human rights. But thereby hangs a slight diplomatic hitch. Israel was supposed to sign first, then the United States, according to U.N. officials. But Scheffer was kept waiting in the wings a while, while some technicalities were ironed out over an accompanying Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry's statement. In the end Scheffer jumped the line and signed and was on his way to Washington while Israel's problem was still being worked out.