The International Criminal Court (ICC) entered into force on 1 July, barely four years after world leaders decided to establish the Court.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed the “historic” creation of the ICC - the world’s first permanent forum for trying individuals responsible for war crimes - as a powerful tool for prosecuting and preventing atrocities. The entry into force of the Court’s Statute “reaffirms the centrality of the rule of law in international relations,” he said in a statement released in New York.
The Secretary-General said that the Court, based at The Hague in the Netherlands, “holds the promise of a world in which the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are prosecuted when individual States are unable or unwilling to bring them to justice”. The ICC, he added, would also serve as a potential deterrent to future atrocities.
“I congratulate all the States parties - currently 74 - on taking the lead in ratifying the Statute, and I appeal to all States that have not yet done so to ratify or accede to it as soon as possible,” Mr. Annan said. “There must be no relenting in the fight against impunity or in our efforts to prevent genocide and the other horrendous crimes that fall under the Court’s jurisdiction.”
The previous day, the United States, which opposes the International Criminal Court, vetoed a Security Council resolution to extend the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), expiring at midnight on 30 June, until the end of the year. Ambassador John Negroponte of the United States stressed that by vetoing the resolution in the face of its commitment to peace and stability in that country, the US was indicating the seriousness of its concerns about risks to its peacekeepers. Ambassador Negroponte noted that his country would not expose its personnel serving under dangerous situations to promote peace to the additional risk of politicized prosecutions before the ICC, whose jurisdiction over its people the Government of the United States did not accept.
Addressing the Council before the vote, Secretary-General Annan said the abrupt end of the UNMIBH mandate was for reasons that were unrelated to the vitally important work it was performing to implement the Dayton Peace Agreement. Stressing that the police in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be left unmonitored, unguided and unassisted, and the long-planned handover to the European Union Police Mission, scheduled for the year’s end, would be severely compromised, he noted that the premature termination of the mandate would be perceived throughout the Balkans as a diminishing of the international community’s commitment to stability in the region.
The Security Council approved a three-day extension of the Mission’s mandate until 3 July to give Council members more time to find a solution acceptable to all concerned and that respected the principles of the UN Charter, as well as treaty obligations of Member States.
