01 July 2002
U.S. Supports Peacekeeping in Balkans, Worldwide, Envoy Says
(But vetoes extension of Bosnia-Herzegovina mission, over ICC issue)
(950)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The United States "will continue to contribute to
maintaining peace and security in the Balkans and around the globe,"
but it will not accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal
Court (ICC) over U.S. peacekeepers, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte
said June 30.
Negroponte, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations,
gave a strong, detailed speech to the Security Council on the United
States' position on immunity for U.S. peacekeepers after he vetoed a
resolution that would have extended the UN Mission in
Bosnia-Herzegovina (UNMIBH) until the end of the year.
U.S. diplomats have negotiated intensely, but unsuccessfully, at UN
headquarters and in the capitals of the other 14 members of the
Security Council to obtain support for a provision in the resolution
that would exempt the nationals of countries who are not party to the
International Criminal Court from the court's jurisdiction.
The United States began discussing the issue in May when the UN
mission in East Timor was being debated. But with the UNMIBH mandate
up for renewal, negotiators ran out of time with the entry into force
of the ICC on July 1.
Other members of the council, who are party to the treaty, have
rejected the U.S. proposals. As a result, the United States vetoed the
draft resolution on the UNMIBH mandate. The vote was 13 in favor, the
United States against, with Bulgaria abstaining.
The council then unanimously adopted a resolution extending the
mission until July 3 to allow for more negotiations and planning for a
wind down of the mission.
"None of this is of our making," Negroponte said.
"The United States wants to participate in international peacekeeping;
but the United States, a major guarantor of peace and security around
the globe and a founding member of the United Nations, does not and
will not accept the jurisdiction of the ICC over the peacekeepers that
it contributes to UN-established and authorized operations,"
Negroponte told the council."
The United States will not ask U.S. personnel to accept the risks and
dangers involved in peacekeeping, and then expect them "to accept the
additional risk of politicized prosecutions before a court whose
jurisdiction ... the United States does not accept," he said.
"Some contend that our concerns are unwarranted," the ambassador said.
"With our global responsibilities, we are and will remain a special
target and cannot have our decisions second-guessed" by the court.
"The failure of the Security Council to act to preserve an appropriate
legal status for the U.S. and other non-ICC party peacekeepers can
only end in damage to international peacekeeping generally," the
ambassador said.
Negroponte said the United States proposed that immunity be
established for UN peacekeeping, building on immunities that are
already recognized in the UN system and reflected in so-called "status
of mission agreements" with the nations in which the peacekeepers are
working. The U.S. proposal is also consistent with Article 98 of the
ICC treaty, he pointed out.
"It strikes us as more than perplexing that others who are parties to
the ICC can use the provision of the treaty to exempt their forces for
an extended period from the purview of the court for war crimes and
then suggest that our attempt to use other provisions of the treaty
similarly to provide protection for our forces either violates their
treaty obligations or does unacceptable damage to the spirit of the
treaty," the ambassador said.
Talking with journalists after the meeting, Negroponte noted that, at
the time of the East Timor resolution, the United States said it was
"laying down a marker that this was an issue that is going to have to
be resolved.
"It's not a question of one mission or another, it's a question of
peacekeeping in general, and until we reach some kind of satisfactory
resolution of this problem, it is going to come up over and over
again. "Obviously, if we are prepared to veto the Bosnia resolution
because of our interests with respect to the ICC," this is "clearly
... a very, very important question for the United States," the
ambassador said.
Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the abrupt ending for the UN
Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina (UNMIBH) will severely compromise the
mission and could set back the peace process in the country.
Urging intensified high-level negotiations in capitals, Annan said
that a divided council will have implications for all UN peace
operations. The premature termination of UNMIBH's mandate will be
"perceived through the Balkans as a diminishing of the international
community's commitment to stability in the region."
"Unless an agreement can be reached on an orderly wind-down of the
mission, the police in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be left
unmonitored, unguided, and unassisted," the secretary general said.
"Key programs, including the control of the borders by a professional
State Border Service, a key instrument for fighting contraband
activities and illegal immigration, will be left uncompleted. Further,
the long-planned hand-over to the European Union Police Mission
scheduled to take place at year's end -- when UNMIBH was expected to
have successfully completed its mandate -- will be severely
compromised."
Negroponte said that the U.S. vetoed the extension "with great
reluctance."
"The decision is not directed at the people of Bosnia," the ambassador
said. "We will stand by them and by our commitment to peace and
stability in the Balkans."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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