The United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC)

Abstract

The establishment of an International Criminal Court (ICC) has been part of the post World War human rights agenda since the negotiations which produced the Genocide Convention in 1948.

Throughout the preparatory process leading to the conference of the U.S. representatives vigorously participated in every stage of the work. The United States submitted a number of working papers and commentaries and continually voiced strong public support for the project. In his address to the United Nations in September 1997, President Clintion boasted of U.S. support for current war crimes trials and proclaimed, “before the century ends, we should establish a Permanent International Court to prosecute the most serious violations of humanitarian law.” On the Other hand, the U.S administration, under President George W. Bush, unsigned the Rome Treaty and is showing a strong opposition to this newly established permanent international Criminal Court. This Paper will investigate especially the U.S grounds for opposing the ICC and the steps taken by the U.S administration to undermine this Court.