The Associated Press

Thursday, June 15, 2000

U.S. Under Pressure from Europe, Helms Over War Crimes Tribunal

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

The United States tries to untangle problems with the European Union and

Sen. Jesse Helms as it starts high-stakes negotiations to protect Americans

from prosecution by the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.

U.S. Ambassador David Scheffer said Wednesday he believes the United States

can get other countries to agree to a new U.S. proposal that would exempt

U.S. soldiers and government officials from prosecution - and at the same

time ensure that citizens of "irresponsible nations" are not exempt.

Whether the United States can achieve that remains to be seen: Scheffer,

the ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, said his deadline is June

30, when the commission preparing for the court's operation ends a

three-week meeting.

The European Union rejected the U.S. proposals circulated in March to deal

with the exemption issue, and a coalition of more than 1,000 human rights

and grass-roots groups has been lobbying delegations not to accept any U.S.

changes that would undermine the court's effectiveness and credibility.

Pressure on the Clinton administration intensified Wednesday when Helms,

the North Carolina Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations

Committee, introduced legislation that would bar any U.S. cooperation with

the court, as long as the United States has not ratified the treaty

creating it.

The United States was one of seven countries voting "no" when 120 countries

approved the treaty to establish the International Criminal Court in July

1998 in Rome. Nonetheless, it is helping draft the court's rules of

procedure and evidence.

The court was created to deal with the most heinous crimes - genocide, war

crimes and crimes against humanity.

Under the treaty, the court will step in only when states are unwilling or

unable to dispense justice. It can exercise jurisdiction when either the

country where the crime took place or the country whose nationals committed

the crime have ratified the statute.

The treaty has been signed by 97 countries and ratified by 12, most

recently Venezuela and France, a NATO ally and a permanent Security Council

member. The grass-roots coalition predicts the treaty will have the 60

ratifications needed to go into force by the end of 2002.

The United States objects that American citizens can be subject to the

court's jurisdiction if an alleged crime is committed in a country that

ratified the treaty - even if the United States is not a party. Washington

says this would leave U.S. troops and citizens vulnerable to politically

motivated prosecutions.

Helms' legislation would require U.S. personnel to be "immunized" from the

court's jurisdiction before the

United States participated in any U.N. peacekeeping operations. It also

would ban U.S. military assistance to any country that has ratified the

treaty, with a waiver for U.S. allies that agree to protect Americans from

extradition.

Helms has vowed to block U.S. ratification of the treaty "so long as there

is breath in me."

Scheffer said the administration was not consulted about the Helms

legislation, which he called "counter-intuitive" because the government is

negotiating for the protection of Americans that Congress wants.

"That legislation is scare tactics," said Richard Dicker, associate counsel

of Human Rights Watch. "It's not going to stop the court. Its introduction

is timed to try to intimidate delegations here from standing on behalf of

international justice. It's very unfortunate."

The European Union objected to the initial U.S. proposal on two grounds: It

could have given the permanent Security Council members who did not ratify

the treaty - including the United States - a veto on prosecutions of their

citizens, and it could have allowed potential war criminals to escape

prosecution.

Scheffer said the United States has dropped the Security Council reference

and is redrafting the proposal to ensure that "irresponsible nations"

cannot take advantage of an exemption for U.S. citizens from prosecution.

"What we cannot have by June 30 is a rejection of the U.S. efforts because

there will be serious consequences if that is the result," Scheffer said.

What consequences?

"I would say that the U.S. government - to at least a significant degree -

would shut down on this treaty," he said.