NEW YORK, July 15, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The Security Council July 12 bowed to U.S. pressure and voted unanimously to adopt a resolution exempting peacekeepers from countries that do not accept the ICC’s jurisdiction, from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court (ICC) for one year. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said after the vote that, for the United States, the resolution was a “first step” which would allow the continuation of the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. In his speech to the Council Negroponte made some of the most explicit public statements to date about the U.S. position on the ICC. He presented unprecedented, blunt warnings about the dangers of the world court.
Negroponte stated “The President of the United States is determined to protect our citizens—soldiers and civilians, peacekeepers and officials—from the International Criminal Court.” In the clearest warning to ICC ideologues issued thus far, he said: “Should the ICC eventually seek to detain any American, the United States would regard this as illegitimate – and it would have serious consequences. No nation should underestimate our commitment to protect our citizens. Our government was founded by Americans to protect their freedom.” Negroponte described the history of American law as a “balance between the power of the government and the rights of the people” and said “We will not permit that balance to be overturned by the imposition on our citizens of a novel legal system they have never accepted or approved, and which their government has explicitly rejected.”“We will never permit Americans to be jailed because judges of the ICC, chosen without the participation of those over whom they claim jurisdiction, so decide. We cannot allow that Americans who have been acquitted of accusations against them in the United States shall be subject to prosecution for the same acts if an ICC prosecutor or judge concludes that the American legal proceedings were somehow inadequate. We know that prosecutors who are responsible to no one constitute a danger, and we will not expose our citizens to such a danger… But we do not believe the International Criminal Court contains sufficient safeguards to protect our nationals, and therefore we can never in good conscience permit Americans to become subject to its authority.
The power to deprive a citizen of his or her freedom is an awesome thing, which the American people have entrusted to their government under the rules of our democracy. Thus does an American judge have the legal and moral right, founded in our Constitution and in democratic procedures, to jail an American. But the International Criminal Court does not operate in the same democratic and constitutional context, and therefore does not have the right to deprive Americans of their freedom,” said Negroponte.
See the full speech by Negroponte at: https://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=02071305.tlt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml