The New York Times

Monday, December 11, 2000

Clinton Weighing Options On World Criminal Court

BARBARA CROSSETTE

President Clinton has not ruled out signing a treaty creating the world's first International Criminal Court, the leader of the American negotiating team says.

"No decision has been made at present whether or not to sign the treaty," David Scheffer, an expert on ethnic conflict who has served as the State Department's first ambassador at large for war crimes issues, said in an interview on Friday.

The administration has until Dec. 31 to sign without ratifying the treaty establishing the court, the first tribunal created solely for the purpose of trying individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

After Jan. 1, a country must ratify in order to sign.

As Mr. Scheffer ends nearly five years of work on the court, the likelihood that the United States will be a full partner in it is bleak, especially if there is a Republican administration. Republicans in Congress have vowed that they will never approve the treaty, which the Pentagon also dislikes.

Further, House and Senate leaders have drawn up legislation to prevent any American court or government official from cooperating with the tribunal.

"If it were adopted," Mr. Scheffer said of that bill, "I think it would have an injurious effect on U.S. national interests and it would set back the cause of international justice unnecessarily. It intrudes upon the president's constitutional powers to conduct foreign policy."

The Pentagon and Congressional Republicans have not budged from their insistence on an absolute guarantee that no American in service abroad, military or civilian, will ever be tried. Other nations reject that demand as inimical to the integrity of the court.

In the last two weeks, Mr. Scheffer has led the American team through the final session in which the Clinton administration will take part. The next round of talks, in February, will fall to a new administration.

It has been a frustrating time for Mr. Scheffer, who has won praise for his work in helping to shape a court acceptable to most other nations, even while it was rejected in Washington, where President Clinton chose not to campaign for it. The American team has played a major part in drawing up the definitions of crimes and the court's rules of procedure.

"Through five years of intensive negotiation on this treaty and on the supplemental documents," Mr. Scheffer said, "the United States has labored constantly to achieve two major objectives. One: establish a truly legitimate engine for international justice on a permanent basis, and two: ensure that there are appropriate safeguards in the treaty and the treaty regime so that American personnel are not subject to any unwarranted investigation or prosecution by the court."