Annan Warns Against "Annual Routine" of Giving US Troops Immunity from ICC

12/06/2003| IslamWeb

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warned the UN Security Council against repeatedly giving US peacekeeping troops immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Speaking before a vote on a resolution to renew a one-year exemption demanded by the United States, he said the council would undermine its own authority as well as that of the ICC if this became "an annual routine". The resolution was expected to easily obtain the nine votes required to pass, but at least two of the 15 council members -- France and Germany -- made clear that they would abstain. Last year, France joined a unanimous vote in favour of the exemption. Annan, a former head of peacekeeping operations, said no soldier serving under the UN blue flag had ever been accused of an offence "anywhere near the kind of crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC." The US demand for exemption "deals not only with a hypothetical case, but with a highly improbable one," he said. Established under the 1999 Rome Statute, the ICC is the first permanent international court to try cases of warcrimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The court's judges and prosecutor have been appointed, but no case has yet been brought before it. Fifteen of the 90 countries which have so ratified the statute asked to take part in an open debate as non-mebers of the council before the vote, which was expected to take place later Thursday. They include the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the council has authorised deployment of a heavily armed international force, led by France, to prevent further massacres of civilians by rebel militias. Annan told council members he believed they were "acting in good faith" to protect the future of peacekeeping missions and said he was grateful for that. But the legitimacy of peacekeeping would be undermined if the council repeatedly renewed the exemption and gave the impression that "it wished to claim absolute and permanent immunity for people serving in the operations it establishes," he said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** The United Nations Security Council. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned the Security Council against repeatedly giving US peacekeeping troops immunity from prosecution by the ICC.(AFP/File/Henny Ray Abrams)