Brussels, 01/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - International human rights organisations severely criticise the European Union for having on Monday authorised the signing with the United States of exemption agreements to the competence of the International Criminal Court (yesterday's EUROPE p.6). According to Amnesty International, the stance of the Fifteen "which opens the door to new impunity agreements with the United States, means the EU is effectively breaking its own commitment to preserve the full integrity" of the Court (ICC). "Deeply concerned", the human rights organisation considers that "however stringent the conditions of this concession, accepting the possibility of new bilateral agreements violates both the spirit and the letter of the Rome Statute". For Amnesty, the Council's conclusions "is worded in such a way that some States may use it as an excuse to enter into agreements that give US citizens and others impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the ICC or any other court". Amnesty International, like Human Rights Watch, especially denounces the fact that the European Union does not provide for any mechanism should the country in question, the United States or another, not judge the person handed over to them. Human Rights Watch recalls that the ICC was created precisely to intervene when States do not judge criminals guilty of the most serious crimes, and considers that the "vague criteria" defined by the Council "do not guarantee respect" of the Court.
Graham Watson, President of the Group of Liberal Democrats and former chair of the EP's committee on public freedoms, published a press release in which he "congratulates the Danish Presidency for preserving a united EU position". According to him, the agreement "preserves the integrity of the ICC". German social-Democrat, Jo Leinen, on the other hand, considers that the EU "is giving in to pressure from Washington", and denounces "this weak compromise that would satisfy nobody". Like his CDU compatriot Doris Pack, he considers that the EU's stance opens the way to a two-speed international society, in which countries like the United States are in a completely different class from others, like the Balkans. You may recall that Germany is the Member state that was the most reluctant regarding the signing of bilateral agreements with the United States. The Green/EFA Group is also very critical. On behalf of the Group, the Netherlands' Joost Laendijk and Finland's Matti Wuori declared that the Fifteen "whatever they may claim, have damaged the integrity of the Court". According to them this decision shows that the "EU is still far from reaching a common foreign policy". They call on Member states not to sign exemption agreements with the United States. Should such agreements be signed, they urge national parliaments not to ratify them. Contrary to her Group's president, Swedish Liberal Cecilia Malmstrom considers that "it is a shame that the Council now allows Member states to broker deals on exempting Americans from the jurisdiction of the ICC".