WASHINGTON, Nov 5: The fear that US soldiers may be tried abroad for war crimes and that Palestinians could launch legal proceedings against Israel is preventing the United States and Israel from supporting the International Criminal Court, speakers at a recent seminar in Washington said.

“At any given time,” says Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, “US military forces and civilian personnel are active in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in almost 100 countries.”

The United States is trying to protect these soldiers, contractors, students, journalists and others from “the illegitimate assertion of authority over them”, Mr Bolton told a gathering at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

To achieve this objective, Mr Bolton said, the United States had embarked on an aggressive campaign and is seeking bilateral agreements with as many as countries as possible to prevent the ICC from trying its citizens.

The US Congress, he said, had already passed the American Servicemembers Protection Act that prohibits military assistance to countries that have joined the ICC, but have not entered into agreements with the United States to protect US citizens from prosecution.

The ICC, set up under the 1998 Rome Statute, has the authority to prosecute those who commit war crimes or crimes against humanity, such as genocide, regardless of their citizenship or nationality.

Mr Bolton said the United States has already signed bilateral agreements with 70 countries, including 50 that are parties to the Rome Statue. Under this separate arrangement, these countries have agreed not to hand over US citizens to the ICC or participate in proceedings that could lead to their prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

But some states — including several in the European Union or aspiring to join the union — have not yet concluded Article 98 agreements with the United States.

At the AEI seminar on “Internationalizing Justice: The rise of the International Criminal Court”, several speakers argued countries like the United States and Israel cannot enter the ICC.

Tal Becker, a legal adviser to Israel’s mission to the United Nations, said Israel fears that the ICC may ultimately be used “for the politicization of justice”.