International Criminal Court: Foreign ministers of France, Italy, Spain and the UK should say no to impunity agreements
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International *
11 October 2002 IOR 30/008/2002
Amnesty International today urged the foreign ministers of France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom not to sign
agreements granting impunity to US nationals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Only days after the EU ministers of foreign affairs adopted a weak position on US impunity agreements, US Ambassador
Marissa Lino has reportedly arrived in Europe to negotiate agreements with France, Italy, Spain and the UK.
"No one, regardless of their nationality should be granted impunity for the worst crimes known to humanity," Amnesty
International said.
"Securing impunity agreements with EU member states is a key objective for the USA to advance its worldwide campaign
against the International Criminal Court," the organization added.
To date the USA has signed 13 impunity agreements, in most cases with foreign ministers of states that are vulnerable to
extreme US pressure. Reportedly, many of those that signed were threatened with withdrawal of US military and other
assistance. However, not a single one of these agreements has been ratified by parliament.
"The foreign ministers of France, Italy, Spain and the UK should not rush into such agreements. Instead, they should ask
the International Criminal Court, when it is established early next year, to provide an advisory opinion on the legality
of these agreements. Failure to do so will very likely result in these states having signed agreements that are
subsequently ruled illegal," Amnesty International said.
Amnesty International is asking parliaments to urge their foreign ministers not to sign any agreement with the USA that
would prevent the arrest and surrender of a person accused of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes to the
International Criminal Court and to refuse to ratify any such impunity agreement.
Background In recent months, the USA has approached governments all over the world asking them to enter into agreements
not to surrender US nationals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the new International
Criminal Court.
Amnesty International in its document International Criminal Court: US efforts to obtain impunity for genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes (AI Index: IOR 40/025/2002), concludes that any such agreements would violate the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Geneva Conventions, the Genocide Convention, and international law.
On 30 September 2002, the European Union (EU) foreign ministers met in Brussels where they adopted a decision on the
agreements. Amnesty International has published its analysis of this decision in International Criminal Court: The need
for the European Union to take more effective steps to prevent members from signing US impunity agreements(AI Index: IOR
40/030/2002), issued yesterday.
While Amnesty International welcomes the EU decision that the agreements as proposed by the USA are contrary to the Rome
Statute and the treaty commitments of the EU member states, the organization expresses disappointment and concern that
the decision does not prohibit any such agreement and sets vague and ambiguous conditions that could be misused by
states as an excuse to enter into agreements with the USA that effectively provide for impunity.
For example, the commentary on the no impunity conditions provides that such agreements must include a requirement that
the USA will investigate and prosecute people accused of the crimes, but only where "appropriate". As US national law
does not include many of the crimes listed in the Rome Statute this may be interpreted as a situation where
investigation and prosecution is not appropriate.
Furthermore, the EU has failed to include any obligation on the USA to surrender people accused of these crimes to the
International Criminal Court , or to return them to the state that transferred them to the USA, if US national courts
are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute them.
Foreign ministers of 13 states have so far signed impunity agreements with the USA: Afghanistan, the Dominican Republic,
East Timor, Gambia, Honduras, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Mauritania, the Federal States of Micronesia, Palau,
Romania, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. None of the parliaments of these countries have ratified such agreements.
Amnesty International's worldwide petition On 17 September, Amnesty International launched a worldwide petition on its
website - www.amnesty.org - calling on all governments not to enter into impunity agreements with the USA. In the first
two weeks the petition has received over 65,000 signatures.
Media covering this issue are requested to link to the Amnesty International's petition which is available in the
following languages:
English: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/action_english French:
http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_fra
Spanish: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_esl
Italian: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_ita
Slovenian: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_svn
German: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_deu
Dutch: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_nld Arabic: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_ara
Portuguese: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_prt
Russian: http://web.amnesty.org/web/icc_petition.nsf/act_rus
**********************
You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is not altered in any way and both the header
crediting Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. International.