International Criminal Court

Written by Sarah Ludford MEP and published in European Voice: Letters on Tue 1st Oct 2002

That the GAC has set out in its conclusions that Member States are free to negotiate deals with the US to give American troops limited immunity from the ICC is surely a signal that we have caved in under pressure from the US.

Given that that Council states that the ICC is a "valuable instrument of the world community to combat impunity for the most serious international crimes" I cannot support President-in-Office Per Stig Møller's assertion that there is no undermining of the ICC.

It was vitally important that the GAC under the guidance of the Presidency stood their ground by expressing firm support for this tribunal and it is unacceptable that they did not do this.

The Danish Presidency may have gone to great lengths in the exercise of international diplomacy but in doing so they have allowed the US to throw their sizeable weight around to the detriment of the international community's efforts to fight serious international crime.

The EU should be in the vanguard for justice and the defence of human rights in the world - not in the pocket of the US.