BRUSSELS: The EU came under furious criticism after seeking to end a row with the US by agreeing terms for giving American citizens immunity from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court.
Under heavy pressure from Washington, London persuaded its partners to accept a compromise allowing member states to sign individual immunity agreements with the US, a retreat from its previous united opposition to US immunity.
Britain, Italy and Spain are now expected to go ahead and make separate agreements with the US.
Peter Hain, the UK foreign office minister, insisted that strict extradition principles would be respected.
But Britain, whose diplomacy was crucial to the new approach, was attacked by Amnesty International for “betraying” its commitment to the new court.”US pressure has paid off,” said Dick Oosting, director of its EU office.
“The EU has allowed the US to shift the terms of the debate from legal principle to political opportunism.”
Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels approved a plan which lets member governments agree not to extradite American soldiers or officials to the ICC if Washington guarantees that US war crimes suspect will be tried at home.
Germany said it was unhappy with the deal but signed it anyway. Sweden and other countries were reluctant, but acknowledged that a united EU position was better than none.
The court, due to start work in next year, will try individuals for genocide, war crimes and human rights abuses.
The US, which fears its personnel overseas could face politically motivated charges, opposes the court and has lobbied other countries to sign immunity agreements.
The deal was the subject of bitter haggling which underlined European concern about US unilateralism and the EU’s difficulty in agreeing a common position.
Per Stig Moeller, the foreign minister of Denmark, insisted that no concessions had been made.
Britain was singled out for criticism by Human Rights Watch. “The British role was both ill-considered and damagingly effective,” its spokesman Richard Dicker said.
Amnesty said: “The political impact of this decision will be to bolster the US administration’s efforts in its relentless campaign to undermine the effectiveness of the ICC.”
Under the terms agreed the US will have to drop its demand for a blanket exemption and limit immunity to individuals sent abroad by the government.
Diplomats said they could not yet answer the so-called “Kissinger question”: what would happen in an ICC prosecution of a former US government official — the defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for example — accused of atrocities in a future war against Iraq, especially one not fought under UN authority.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.