The USA made its FIRST EVER appearance at the International Criminal Court today - well, to be clear, U.S. war crimes ambassador Stephen Rapp showed up at the management board meeting - but this could signal a monumental policy shift. Rapp is expected to make a statement to the Assembly of Parties (specifically, the 110 other countries that recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC) on Thursday November 19, 2009.

What's the Significance?
The ICC was created in 1998 as a permanent international tribunal to punish individuals who commit genocide and other serious international crimes.

The underlying document that provides legitimacy to the ICC is known as the Rome Treaty, which was approved in 1998 with a vote of 120 countries in favor, 7 countries against, and 21 countries abstaining. The big picture - countries who signed and ratified the treaty basically consented to the ICC's jurisdiction over their citizens. So, if a particular head of government commits crimes on an international scale, he/she could be hauled down to the Hague and face criminal prosecution before a "global" court. Recall: In 2001, the ICC charged the former president of Yugoslavia & Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, for violating customs of war, breaches of the Geneva conventions, and alleged genocide for the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Who were the 7 naysayers? China, Qatar, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Israel, and...the United States. President Clinton signed the Rome Treaty in 2000, but wouldn't ratify it without further review; President George W. Bush adamantly opposed ratifying the treaty throughout his term.

Today's appearance by U.S. War Crimes Ambassador Rapp could foreshadow a warming trend ushered in by the Obama administration; there is much speculation that tomorrow's statement could signal the USA's willingness to ratify the Rome Treaty. Stay tuned...

Background and History
In 1948, following the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the need for a permanent international court to deal with atrocities of the kind committed during World War II. At the request of the General Assembly, the International Law Commission drafted two statutes by the early 1950s but these were shelved as the Cold War made the establishment of an international criminal court politically unrealistic. Benjamin B. Ferencz, an investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War II and the Chief Prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, one of the twelve military trials held by the U.S. authorities at Nuremberg, later became a vocal advocate of the establishment of an international rule of law and of an International Criminal Court. In his first book published in 1975, entitled Defining International Aggression-The Search for World Peace, he argued for the establishment of such an international court. 

The idea was revived in 1989 when A. N. R. Robinson, then Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, proposed the creation of a permanent international court to deal with the illegal drug trade. While work began on a draft statute, the international community established ad hoc tribunals to try war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, further highlighting the need for a permanent international criminal court. Following years of negotiations, the General Assembly convened a conference in Rome in June 1998, with the aim of finalizing a treaty. On 17 July 1998, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was adopted by a vote of 120 to 7, with 21 countries abstaining.



Additional information can be found at: www.law.com