LONDON, May 7: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson on Tuesday criticized Washington’s abandonment of a new international court for the world’s worst crimes, calling it regrettable and worrying.
Her words were echoed by European Commission President Romano Prodi, who stressed that the new court would continue regardless.
Joining a chorus of international condemnation, Robinson said the US stance set a bad precedent but that the International Criminal Court should survive without backing from the world’s only superpower.
“I believe it has been a remarkable success story...the International Criminal Court will go forward strongly and will make a great difference in accountability and ending impunity,” Robinson told a news conference during a visit to London.
US President George W. Bush’s government announced on Monday it would pull out of the treaty setting up the court, due mostly to fears it could be used against US military personnel.
That disappointed major US allies and infuriated human rights organizations, which accused Washington of ending a decades-old tradition of leading prosecution of war criminals since the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War Two.
“WORRYING IMPLICATIONS”: “It’s worrying and I’m concerned that the United States has not just let the matter rest as it was — that they were unlikely to ratify — but has actually taken symbolically a much more serious step of disengaging from this whole process,” Robinson said. The United States signed the treaty in 2000.
Former US President Bill Clinton’s government had signed the treaty setting up the court so Washington could participate in talks on arrangements for the new body.
But both administrations said they did not intend to ask the Senate to ratify, saying the court could be used for politically motivated prosecutions of US officials or military personnel.
The US renunciation of obligation to cooperate with the court — meaning it could, for example, ignore extradition requests — “could have worrying implications” for other nations bound by treaties, Robinson said.—Reuters