New global court takes firm shape

UNITED NATIONS, JULY 1. More than 100 countries approved two key documents for the world's first permanent criminal court, including a provision the United States called a step towards exempting Americans from prosecution.

``It is a gateway to the discussion that we need to hold in November on the protection we need for our armed forces,'' said Mr. David Scheffer, the U.S. Ambassador at large for war crimes. ``We've taken another step and we'll take some more steps as the months go by.'' At issue are complex rules and definitions for a new international criminal court that would prosecute individuals for the world's most heinous atrocities - war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

But many delegates, including Portugal, representing 15 European Union countries, New Zealand, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, yesterday criticised Mr. Scheffer's reading of a procedural rule he helped draft, saying it could not change statutes agreed at a 1998 Rome conference. ``The Rome statute is here to stay and it cannot and will not be changed,'' said Canada's Philippe Kirsch, chairman of the commission preparing for the court's operation, before closing a three-week meeting yesterday. Some 120 countries approved a treaty establishing the court at the Rome conference. Under pressure from the Pentagon, the U.S. was among seven nations that voted ``no.''

Since Rome, 97 countries have signed the treaty and 14 States have ratified it. A total of 60 ratifications are needed for the treaty to go into force, which most experts believe will happen within three years. Canada announced yesterday that its Foreign Minister, Mr. Lloyd Axworthy, would deposit ratification papers at the U.N. next week. France and Belgium have already done so. With 300,000 soldiers abroad, the U.S. wants air-tight guarantees its soldiers and officials would not be subject to politically motivated or frivolous prosecutions.

Under the treaty, the court steps in only when nations are unable or unwilling to pursue an alleged crime that involves systematic attacks against a population. Mr. Scheffer called a document outlining ``elements of crime'' adopted on Friday a ``truly historic'' guide for prosecutors in national and military courts ``for decades to come.'' ``Never before have war crimes and crimes against humanity and Genocide been defined with such precision as we now have in the elements of crimes,'' Mr. Scheffer said.

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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