Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
During President Bill Clinton’s administration, the U.S. signed a treaty to establish the International Criminal Court. The U.S. said it strongly supported “international accountability,” but believed the treaty, known as the Rome Statute, had “significant flaws” that still needed addressing.
The court investigates and brings to justice people responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, intervening when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.
Several countries, including China, India, and Russia, along with the United States, have refused to join the ICC.
A New York Times story by Marlise Simons, Charlie Savage and Anushka Patil notes that the International Criminal Court recently issued an arrest warrant for war crimes for President Vladimir Putin and a second Russian official.
The court said that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February last year. Putin has always maintained that he removed Russian children from a war zone in a Russian province and took them to Russia to provide a safe haven. Russia has said it will not surrender its own officials.
More from the story:
“This makes Putin a pariah,” said Stephen Rapp, a former ambassador at the Office of Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. State Department. “If he travels, he risks arrest. This never goes away.”
Contrast the above with a Sept. 11, 2018, story from the British Broadcasting Co. describing how John Bolton threatens the ICC with U.S. sanctions:
“The U.S. has threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it goes ahead with prosecutions against Americans. The court is currently considering prosecuting U.S. servicemen over alleged detainee abuse in Afghanistan. National Security Adviser John Bolton called the court ‘illegitimate’ and vowed the U.S. would do everything ‘to protect our citizens.’”
Bolton said: “We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders backed Bolton, saying President Donald Trump would use “any means necessary to protect our citizens [and] those of our allies from unjust prosecution from the ICC.”
Remember that neither the United States nor Russia view the ICC as a legitimate court.
Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:
