US based NGO Human Rights Watch has criticised the United States attempts to block the UN Security Council from referring atrocities in the Darfur conflict region to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The US favours setting up an ad hoc tribunal instead. HRW claims that the resulting delay will lead to the loss of more innocent lives. Pierre-Richard Prosper , the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, said "We don't want to be party to legitimizing the ICC." In the last two years in the Darfur region more than 70,000 people have been killed, and over 2 million displaced. US oposition to ICC The United States, which signed but did not ratify the statute during the Bill Clinton administration, withdrew its support soon after George W. Bush assumed the presidency. It signed the ICC Statute at the last minute, primarily so that it could continue to take part in negotiations on the rules of procedure for the new court, in an attempt to obtain an exemption for U.S. nationals taking part in UN-sponsored peacekeeping missions--as several other countries were able to do. The U.S. fears that American soldiers and political leaders may be subject to frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions. U.S. opponents of the ICC maintain that in cases where the U.S. failed to act quickly enough to prevent disaster the U.S. has been criticized for allowing genocide to occur (e.g. Rwanda :"Rwanda: U.S., France blamed for genocide", "Rwanda-US: Intelligence Warned Early of Genocide, New Papers Show"); in cases where the U.S. has acted quickly they have been criticized and even accused of war crimes (e.g. Yugoslavia, Somalia : "Yugoslavia: US Terrorism", "American Slaughter of People in Somalia").
US based has criticised the United States attempts to block the UN from referring atrocities in the region to the (ICC). The US favours setting up an ad hoc tribunal instead. HRW claims that the resulting delay will lead to the loss of more innocent lives. , the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, said "We don't want to be party to legitimizing the ICC." In the last two years in the region more than 70,000 people have been killed, and over 2 million displaced. US opposition to ICC The United States, which signed but did not ratify the statute during the administration, withdrew its support soon after assumed the presidency. It signed the ICC Statute at the last minute, primarily so that it could continue to take part in negotiations on the rules of procedure for the new court, in an attempt to obtain an exemption for U.S. nationals taking part in UN-sponsored peacekeeping missions--as several other countries were able to do. The U.S. fears that American soldiers and political leaders may be subject to frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions. U.S. opponents of the ICC maintain that in cases where the U.S. failed to act quickly enough to prevent disaster the U.S. has been criticized for allowing genocide to occur (e.g. :"Rwanda: U.S., France blamed for genocide", "Rwanda-US: Intelligence Warned Early of Genocide, New Papers Show"); in cases where the U.S. has acted quickly they have been criticized and even accused of war crimes (e.g. Yugoslavia, : "Yugoslavia: US Terrorism", "American Slaughter of People in Somalia").
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NGO Human Rights Watch
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Security Council
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Darfur conflict
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International Criminal Court
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Pierre-Richard Prosper
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Darfur
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oposition
opposition
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Bill Clinton
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George W. Bush
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Rwanda
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Somalia