“Bogus claim of jurisdiction” - Congressional opposition to the ICC in the 2000s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61173/wp54dk30Keywords:
ICC, America, Congress, RefusalAbstract
Despite helping develop the Rome Statute, when it came to signing the International Criminal Court (ICC), America stepped out. They argued that their forces were a major power in peacekeeping, and claimed to fear the indictment of their own servicemen. But was this really the case? By analyzing a meeting record between the Congress of Foreign Relations, this paper seeks to find the congressional opinion as to why they didn’t sign the ICC. In taking into account both conservative and democratic views, the meeting records reveal that America refused to sign the ICC because they believed the Court was unreliable and lacked civil rights, as opposed to fear of indictment.
References
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[2] Clinton, Bill. “Statement on Signature of the International Criminal Court Treaty.” Transcript of speech delivered at Washington, DC, December 31, 2000 https://19972001.state.gov/ global/swci/001231_clinton_icc.html#:~:text=I%20believe%20 that%20a%20properly,the%20months%20and%20years%20 ahead.
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[4] Robertson, Geoffrey. “Comment & Analysis: America Won’t Help: The US is Opposing a New Court that could Try the World’s Mass Murderers.” The Guardian (London), 2000, 1.
[5] Holmes, Steven A. “Jesse Helms, Beacon of Conservatism, Dies at 86.” The New York Times, July 5, 2008. https://www. nytimes.com/2008/07/05/us/politics/05helms.html.
[6] The International Criminal Court: protecting American servicemen and officials from the threat of international prosecution: hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, June 14, 2000. Bill, The International Criminal Court: Protecting American servicemen and officials from the threat of international prosecution: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth congress, Second Session, June 14, 2000 § (2000).
[7] Akenroye, Ayodele. “Looking Deeper to Understand African Governments’ Opposition to the ICC.” openDemocracy, April 3, 2017. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/openglobalrightsopenpage/looking-deeper-to-understand-african-governmentsopposition-to-icc/.
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