The International Criminal Court and the US

Speech by Sarah Ludford MEP delivered to European Parliament debate on statements from the Council and the Commission concerning the International Criminal Court on Wed 2nd Jul 2003

The good news is that the ICC has been successfully established with 139 countries having signed up and the president, prosecutor and judges appointed. It will prosecute the worst kind of crimes, such as genocide, mass slaughter, widespread rape and ethnic cleansing. It will help make the world a safer place. The European Union must live up to its leadership in establishing the Court by ensuring that all Member States fulfil their funding and legal obligations.

The United States' opposition to the Court is totally irrational. There are ample checks and safeguards to prevent politically motivated prosecutions. It is absurd to claim that US peacekeepers would run the gauntlet of anti-American prejudice.

US domestic political ideology is in conflict with American security interests. Surely an international court which signals that the international community will not allow gross breaches of law to go unpunished coincides with the objectives of the United States global security doctrine.

We may not be able to stop the US from shooting itself in the foot, but we ought to be able to stop it shooting the rest of us in the foot. It is deploying the most outrageous bullying tactics to get small countries to sign bilateral immunity agreements. Six of the seven EU accession states which are candidates to NATO have not obtained a waiver and have had military aid cut off.

It is alarming to see the Bush Administration pursuing its anti-ICC campaign to such lengths as to cut off military assistance to its allies in the war against terrorism. Indeed, most ICC member states are democracies with relatively strong commitment to the rule of law, so the aid cut-offs represent a sanction targeting states that abide by democratic values. That is extremely perverse.

The Balkan states are in a very vulnerable position. Croatia and Bulgaria have refused to sign. Romania, Albania and Bosnia have granted immunity and Macedonia, too, I understand. It is no good just saying we regret that they do not live up to EU criteria. We have to both sanction and protect these accession and aspirant states. This is the kind of exercise which, if the EU cannot hang together, with its candidate and aspirant states, makes people despair of a common foreign and security policy. We should be able to do more and I hope we will be able to do so.