Annan says he opposes US bid for ICC immunity

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan firmly opposed US efforts to extend
immunity of US citizens from prosecution for war crimes.

"As you know, for the past two years, I have spoken quite strongly
against the exemption, and I think it would be unfortunate for one to
press for such an exemption, given the prisoner abuse in Iraq," Annan
told reporters as he arrived at UN headquarters.

It was the first time Annan publicly put his opinion in such clear and
firm terms.

"I think in this circumstance it would be unwise to press for an
exemption and it would be even more unwise on the part of the Security
Council to grant it," he stressed.

"It would discredit the council and the United Nations that stands for
rule of law and the primacy of rule of law," Annan added. "I don’t think
it should be encouraged by the council."

The Security Council resolution would exempt US citizens, whether
civilians or military, from the ICC jurisdiction.

A council resolution seeks to renew the exemption, which expires at the
end of the month.

So far, the United States cannot count on enough votes to get it passed.

Technically, the resolution keeps UN peacekeepers from nations that have
not ratified the Rome Treaty, which established the International
Criminal Court (ICC), outside its reach. The immunity is renewable in
one-year increments.

"The council has, two years ago, provided for such a resolution and in
that resolution talked about its renewal," State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said.

"We think it’s a technical roll-over that should be done and it should
be renewed the way the council said it would.

"And so, we’re still talking with other governments in New York and
discussing this," he said in Washington.

The court is the first permanent international tribunal to try cases of
war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. It began operation
earlier this year.

Washington signed the Rome Treaty but later backed out, saying it feared
the tribunal would be politicized and that its troops abroad could be
charged for war crimes.

The US efforts ran up against a scandal touched off by the publication
of photographs apparently showing Iraqi prisoners being abused at the
hands of US soldiers and civilian contractors in Abu Ghraib prison
outside Baghdad.

The scandal is kept afloat by new information and a number of ongoing
investigations, which give impression that the incidents were neither
exceptional nor caused by isolated soldiers, but part of a larger
pattern of abuse.

Annan has said that ICC immunity for US citizens was not a good idea.

The Bush administration has spent considerable effort to oppose the ICC,
and to obtain side agreements with individual countries that US citizens
would not be brought up on war crimes charges while on the territory of
those countries.

The US justification for the bilateral agreements is that the United
States has a unique role to play in geopolitics and so US citizens need
protection from politically motivated persecution before the ICC.

US President George W. Bush made diplomatic history by making the United
States the first country to withdraw its signature from such an
agreement as the Rome Treaty, which has been signed by 140 countries.

In order to force the US exception, the United States has threatened to
shut down all UN operations, one by one, as each mandate expires.

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