[IMC-bristol] Fwd: International Criminal Court: Foreign ministers of France, Italy, Spain and the UK should say no to impunity agreements

[Always Shariff]

Hi,
 I saw this and got a bit frieghtened. So I thought of sending it to you. I am
sorry If I am cluttering your mail bag.
 Always 
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--- ai-news@amnesty.org wrote: From: ai-news@amnesty.org Subject: International
Criminal Court: Foreign ministers of France, Italy, Spain and the UK should say
no to impunity agreements To: amnesty-l@oil.ca Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 
12:01:35 
+0100 

* 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 


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