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UN Peacekeepers Exempted From War Crimes Prosecution

Accra Mail (Accra)
NEWS
June 16, 2003
Posted to the web June 13, 2003
Accra
The United Nations Security Council has approved a 12-month extension of
immunity that effectively shields UN peacekeepers from potential prosecution by
the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.
Currently, members of UN peacekeeping missions from nations that have not
ratified the Rome Statute - the treaty that established the International
Criminal Court (ICC) - are immune from investigation or prosecution under a
Council resolution adopted unanimously a year ago. Last Thursday's decision,
adopted by a vote of 12 in favour, with France, Germany and Syria abstaining,
extends that exemption temporarily for another year beginning 1 July, unless
the Council decides otherwise.
The ICC was inaugurated in early March in The Hague with the swearing in of its
18 judges, and will have jurisdiction over the most serious crimes, including
war crimes, genocide, mass murder, rape, torture, and, once defined, the crime
of aggression. The Rome Statute entered into force 1 July 2002, and the Court's
authority will cover only crimes committed after that date. The Statute, signed
by nearly 140 States and ratified by 90, gives the court jurisdiction over
individuals no matter the nationality of the accused.
In Council debates last year, the United States said it would not expose its
personnel serving in UN peacekeeping missions to the additional risk of
politicized prosecutions before the ICC and subsequently, Washington
temporarily blocked a full renewal of a UN operation in Bosnia.
A handful of non-Council nations that have ratified the Rome Statute - Canada,
Jordan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand and Switzerland - called for last Thursday's
meeting, saying that the proposed renewal of the resolution had "implications
of direct import" to UN Member States relating to international peacekeeping,
fundamental questions of international law, and the Council's role in promoting
law and accountability.
Speaking at the outset of the meeting, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the
Council that although he could accept that the request for a one-year extension
should be approved this year, since the court is in its infancy, he believes it
should not become permanent and that it violates the Rome Statute. He said he
did not believe the request for an extension was necessary because no UN
peacekeeper had been "anywhere near committing the kind of crimes" falling
under the ICC's jurisdiction, and the case was thus hypothetical and "highly
improbable."
Meanwhile US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumfsfeld threatened in Belgium, on the
same day that if Belgium went ahead with its law to prosecute war offenders, no
matter their nationality, the US would not look favourably on. The current
legislation could make senior US officers in the war against Iraq liable to
prosecution for war crimes in Belgium.

   

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