I still have to edit and revise more this article, but I just thought I would put it now
1. US' immunity to international justice By Ivette Tarrida
What happens when a war ends and several (lots of) military and diplomatic members of the parts involved are found to have committed high crimes against humanity? Still today, thousands of Milosevics and Pinochets laugh at the international community and calmly spend their days in big mansions, without any remorse of the atrocities they caused in the past. Impunity, immunity, exemption… No chiefs of state or military officials have been judged or condemned for war crimes, genocide or aggressions. Only the Nuremberg Process and the IPC (International Penal Court) attempted to carry out trials for war crimes. Former Yugoslav president Slovodan Milosevic is currently held in The Hague by the IPC. But the truth is that no progress is being achieved, and most probably, just by alleging serious illness, he will get released from all charges and will spend the rest of his life somewhere far away from everything, in a little bubble of luxury and happiness. To ensure nobody can get away with war crimes because of privileged government titles, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in Rome in 1998. Its constitution was written and, once finished, more that 100 countries adhered to it. It was accorded that the ICC would start functioning on July 1st, 2002, having the power of judging any case of war crime, genocide, or aggression denounced within a country which had previously ratified the ICC constitution. As for July 1st, 2002, over 60 countries had ratified it, without including the US, Russia, China, India, Israel and most Arab countries. The EU was the main force pushing towards the complete acceptation of the new international organization, which is basic to avoid the upcoming conflicts between states and groups of people. At that point, the UN Security Council is profoundly divided into pro and against the ICC ratification. This fact especially affects the well functioning of all UN peacekeeping operations around the world. Since the very beginning, the major power fighting against the ICC, the US, states that it will not ratify, by any means, the ICC Constitution. In addition, it threatens the UN community to withdraw their peace troops from Bosnia if the ratification goes any further. The republican government argues that no international organization is going to have authority over its soldiers and diplomats, not even when going abroad under the UN flag. Therefore, the US does not recognize the ICC. It must be reminded that the UN has very unambiguous and transparent patterns of action in their missions. Any country sending troops to these missions and respecting the UN policies should not fear the inspection of the ICC. So basically, the US does not want to have moral and legal obligations with the UN Charter. This position denotes doubts about the actual compromise of the US with the defense of Human Rights, the fundamentals of the UN. As a result, beginning in 1998, the US starts bilateral talks and agreements with other countries like Romania and Israel, according to which no US soldier or diplomat will be reported to the ICC, but to the same government of the United States, which will be in charge of his/her prosecution. The US claims a different treatment within the ICC in order to finally ratify its Constitution. As for July 1st, 2002, all European countries and most NGOs like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International highly criticized these bilateral initiatives. They state that the US is deliberately damaging the whole well functioning of the ICC, and that European states should not accommodate such demands. However, European countries split in their opinions and end up, by October 1st, 2002, accepting the US requirements. US staff will not be prosecuted at the ICC, but the US government must guarantee that whoever is suspicious of committing any crime penalized by the ICC, will be judged by the Supreme US Court of Justice. It seems to me that the US is now immune to international justice, which is exactly what the ICC fights against. Being the great world superpower, this fact is partly irritating, but mostly scary. Why is the US escaping international justice?
