Brussels, 30/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The EU agreed on Monday to allow some Member States to sign agreements on the International Criminal Court (ICC) with the United States, subject to strict criteria - taking existing agreements into account before considering signing a new agreement; the demand for a guarantee that people not covered by the ICC's powers will be tried in their home countries; and a restriction of exemptions for people "sent" by a state. The conclusions approved at the General Affairs Council will raise harsh criticism from NGOs, which see the signing of bilateral agreements as challenging the ICC (see page 7). It is not certain that the US will be satisfied with his since the EU is setting limits and has noted that the signing of bilateral agreements as put forward at the moment by the US would contravene the obligations of the parties to the ICC in terms of the ICC statute and might also be incompatible with other international agreements to which Member States are party.
The agreement on the draft conclusions was reached once Germany got the EU to insist that each country would be free to examine the necessity for signing such agreements (Germany opposes bilateral agreements). Under George Bush, the US has withdrawn its signature from the Statutes of the ICC made by Bill Clinton, and is pressurising the other parties to sign bilateral agreements to exclude US citizens from the power of the ICC. The ICC Treaty came into force on 1 July 2002. The Court is likely to start work sometime around March 2003.
The annex to the conclusions adopted on Monday at the General Affairs Council sets out guidelines to be followed by EU Member States, namely 1) above all, existing agreements have to be taken into account, such as conventions on the status of forces and agreements on criminal legal cooperation, including extradition; 2) the agreements proposed by the US (exempting all US citizens) are unacceptable; 3) "no impunity": the EU is calling for guarantees that the cases of criminals exempted from the ICC be investigated in their countries of origin and tried as appropriate if sufficient evidence is uncovered. They do not, however, set out any procedures or attitudes to be adopted if the country in question (in effect the US) does not actually take action; 4) all solutions concerning derogations should only concern people who are not citizens of countries party to the ICC; and 5) all agreements concerning derogations should only be targetted on individuals present in the territory of a state because they were sent there by that state: a priori, people "sent" means diplomats and soldiers, but the EU has not given any detailed definition.
The conclusions start by stressing the importance attached by the EU to the ICC, adding that the Council has taken note of the US proposal to sign new bilateral agreements with states party to the ICC over the conditions governing the sending of individuals to the ICC. The Council notes that agreements exist in this connection. It then made reference to the guiding principles that Member States wanting to sign an agreement have to respect. The Council also said it hoped the US would continue to cooperate with its partners and allies to establish effective and impartial international criminal justice, particularly in terms of the issue of sending people back to the US during the ICC process. Member States, it adds, must inform the Council of "any new developments", namely of any plans to sign new bilateral agreements.