The International Herald Tribune

Saturday-Sunday, July 18-19, 1998

WAR CRIMES COURT NEARING CREATION

U.S. Fails to Block Draft Treaty

Compiled by Our Staff from Dispatches

Rome - Over strenuous American opposition, a UN conference forged a draft treaty Friday for creating the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.

Delegates from 160 countries had until midnight Friday to approve the treaty.

Despite week of arm-twisting, the United States failed to block the creation of an independent prosecutor and insert a loophole that could exempt U.S. citizens and soldiers from the court's jurisdiction. The Treaty's strongest supporters also included most of Washington's closest allies.

Hours before the midnight deadline for an agreement at the five-week conference was due to expire, a U.S. spokesman said: "Unfortunately the draft treaty released in Rome this morning does not address American concerns, including the court's jurisdiction and the role of the prosecutor."

"As negotiations continue, we hope that a satisfactory outcome can emerge," he added after the chief U.S. delegate, David Scheffer, held a morning of intensive lobbying with other delegations.

As envisioned in the draft, the international Criminal Court would bring individuals to justice for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.

The court, to be based in The Hague, fulfills a dream that was born after World War II with the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals and revived with the ad hoc tribunals for alleged offenders from Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Under the draft, a case could be triggered by the prosecutor, with the approval of a pretrial panel of judges, by a country or by the UN Security Council.

To hear a case, the court would need the permission either of the nation where the alleged crime was committed or the suspect's home country.

The United States had sought a more restrictive option that would let it veto, without interference, the prosecution of any American citizen. With U.S. troops deployed in hot spots around the world, Washington fears they could become targets of politically motivated charges.

The U.S. effort to win such veto power was widely denounced.

The negotiations split the conference into two opposing camps - one lobbying for the strongest, most independent court possible and the other hoping to curb its scope.

Supporters of a strong court include most of America's closest allies like Canada and Britain. Among those in the opposite group are nations with dubious human rights records.

(AP, Reuters)