- THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The
first permanent global war crimes court starts work on Monday, decades
after World War Two prompted calls for a tribunal to try heinous crimes,
but faces stiff opposition from the United States, Russia and China.
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- The Dutch-based International Criminal Court will have
the power to tackle genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as
of July 1, 2002.
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- "We hope it will deter future war criminals, and
bring nearer the day when no ruler, no state, no junta and no army anywhere
will be able to abuse human rights with impunity," United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
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- But its backers say Washington is trying to cripple the
tribunal before it starts, portraying a U.S. drive to win immunity for
peacekeepers as a campaign against the court itself, which has been ratified
by 69 other countries.
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- The United States says the court would infringe on national
sovereignty and could lead to politically motivated prosecutions of its
officials or soldiers working outside U.S. borders.
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- The row will not remove the symbolism of Monday's opening.
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- Human rights groups have hailed the court's creation
as the biggest milestone for international justice since top Nazis were
tried by an international military tribunal in Nuremberg after World War
Two.
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- "I am delighted to see the progress that is being
made to carry out the principles we articulated in Nuremberg so long ago,"
Benjamin Ferencz, a Nuremberg prosecutor, said on a visit to The Hague.
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- "There must be a recognition that we are all members
of one human family. We have to create new institutions. This is one of
them. This is another step forward in humanity's slow march toward civilisation."
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- Anyone -- from a head of state to an ordinary citizen
-- will be liable to ICC prosecution for human rights violations, including
systematic murder, torture, rape and sexual slavery.
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- A handful of ICC staff will start work without fanfare
at the court's headquarters in a 16-storey office block in The Hague on
Monday. They will pave the way for the arrival of 18 judges and a chief
prosecutor in early 2003.
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- The ICC is not expected to start investigating cases
before the end of next year. Countries backing the court plan to chose
judges and a prosecutor in January 2003 after deciding on procedures for
their election this September.
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- COURT OF LAST RESORT
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- The ICC will not supersede national courts and will intercede
only when those courts are unable to investigate or prosecute serious crimes.
The ICC, set up under a 1998 Rome Treaty, will not probe crimes committed
before its inception.
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- Cases can be referred by states that have ratified the
Rome Treaty, the U.N. Security Council or the tribunal's prosecutor after
approval from three judges.
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- The Security Council also has the power to suspend an
ICC investigation or prosecution if it believes it could obstruct its efforts
to maintain international peace and security.
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- The U.S., Russia and China are three of the five permanent
members of the 15-seat Security Council.
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- While the impetus for creating the ICC came after the
1992-1995 Bosnian war and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda spawned two U.N.
war crimes tribunals with localized scope, the idea for a global criminal
court came to the fore in the late 1940s.
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- The U.N. first recognized the need for a permanent international
court to deal with the kinds of atrocities witnessed during the Holocaust
when it approved a convention to prevent and punish genocide in 1948.
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- The Cold War stymied progress for decades. In 1998 the
U.N.-backed conference in Rome finally paved the way for the ICC. The Rome
treaty won its crucial 60th ratification in April.
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- WORLD'S LEGAL CAPITAL
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- The Hague -- which likes to call itself the legal capital
of the world -- is already home to the U.N.'s war crimes tribunal for former
Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which only tackles
legal disputes between countries.
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- Dozens of European, African, Latin American and Asian
countries have thrown their weight behind the ICC. Supporters include all
15 members of the European Union and countries like Nigeria, Sierra Leone,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ecuador and Cambodia.
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- But other states have expressed strong reservations about
the ICC and decided not to lend their support. Although 120 countries voted
in favor of the Rome Treaty, only 69 have ratified the accord.
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- The big three -- the United States, Russia and China
-- have not backed the court, all fiercely guarding their sovereignty.
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- Other countries which have not backed the court include
India, Pakistan and Turkey. Israel signed the accord but has not ratified
it. Jordan is the only Middle East country to do so.
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- The United States has spurned the ICC under President
Bush although his predecessor Bill Clinton signed the treaty.
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- Washington has threatened not to take part in any U.N.
peacekeeping operations if the Security Council did not grant its forces
immunity from arrest or prosecution by the court.
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- The move -- which could have its first ramifications
in Bosnia where the international peacekeeping mission's mandate expires
at 0400 GMT on Monday -- has put Washington at loggerheads with key European
allies.
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- "It would be better for the ICC if the U.S. was
supportive. The lack of U.S. involvement and support does not in any way
threaten the court. The support is wide enough and deep enough to make
the ICC viable and credible," Human Rights Watch spokesman Richard
Dicker said.
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