ICC Hague & the rest of the world.

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Monday June 06, 2005 21:07

by €/$ - "compare & contrast Africa of the Poor and the Americas of the Poor"

The International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, was established by European nations of the €U under the Rome Statute as the last court of international crime.

It is the only international court which is permenant and ratified and stablished to promote the rule of law and ensure that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished.

It is not completely recognised by the USA which resents its "inteference".

It has opened investigations into Darfur-
“The investigation will require sustained cooperation from national and international authorities. It will form part of a collective effort, complementing African Union and other initiatives to end the violence in Darfur and to promote justice. Traditional African mechanisms can be an important tool to complement these efforts and achieve local reconciliation.”

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was established on 17 July 1998, when 120 States participating in the "United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court" adopted the Statute. The Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002. Anyone who commits any of the crimes under the Statute after this date will be liable for prosecution by the Court.

The U$A is opposed to this, and argues that its citizens and more specifically its military ought be exempted and favours the trial of international crime at one off tribunals appointed by the UN for that purpose "at worst" or a short case in US federal or overseas jurisidiction followed by some hey throwing (away) "at best".

Notwithstanding more and more states have ratified the ICC, the last to do so being the Dominican Republic in the Carribean 18th of May 2005 and Kenya in Africa 16th March 2005.

And in response to the idea of "immunity and exception" many states (now numbering 62) are party to an agreement on the Privileges and immunities of the ICC (APIC).

The DARFUR investigation follows the release of a list of 51 names of suspects in april.
http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/101.html

The press release from the Prosecution office today:-
http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/107.html

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José Couso was killed in Bagdhad in 2003 in an incident which saw a US tank fire on a hotel.

by -

Tue Jun 07, 2005 20:32

He was a camaraman with TV5 one of the Spanish terrestial channels, he was 37 years of age, and was married with two children then aged 3 and 6 years.

His family have succeeded today, in persuading a prosecution judge of the Spanish judiciary to arraign those members of the US defence forces responsible for the attack on the Hotel Palestine on the 8th of april 2003.

There are 3 names.
They are :
sergeant Thomas Gibson,
captain Philip Wolford
lieutenant colonel Philip de Camp
of the the 64th armoured regiment of the 3rd division of infantry.

http://actualidad.terra.es/sociedad/articulo/jose_couso_audiencia_nacional_eeuu_339072.htm
http://www.plus.es/codigo/noticias/ficha_noticia.asp?id=477983
http://actualidad.tiscali.es/articulo.jsp?pos=0&sub=1&content=356872

This news is left here as it touches on the extensive moral brief of the ICC in that the attack on the hotel breached the Geneva convention, but will be updated on its own case thread here:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70167

Germans offering to airlift african soldiers and generators and medical supplies to Darfur.

Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:48

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5856907&cKey=1118307922000

Napalm-type firebombs used in Iraq

by redjade

Fri Jun 17, 2005 15:51

17 June 2005

American officials lied to British ministers over the use of "internationally reviled" napalm-type firebombs in Iraq.

Yesterday's disclosure led to calls by MPs for a full statement to the Commons and opened ministers to allegations that they held back the facts until after the general election.

Despite persistent rumours of injuries among Iraqis consistent with the use of incendiary weapons such as napalm, Adam Ingram, the Defence minister, assured Labour MPs in January that US forces had not used a new generation of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq.

But Mr Ingram admitted to the Labour MP Harry Cohen in a private letter obtained by The Independent that he had inadvertently misled Parliament because he had been misinformed by the US. "The US confirmed to my officials that they had not used MK77s in Iraq at any time and this was the basis of my response to you," he told Mr Cohen. "I regret to say that I have since discovered that this is not the case and must now correct the position."

Mr Ingram said 30 MK77 firebombs were used by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in the invasion of Iraq between 31 March and 2 April 2003. They were used against military targets "away from civilian targets", he said. This avoids breaching the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which permits their use only against military targets.

Britain, which has no stockpiles of the weapons, ratified the convention, but the US did not.

more at
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=647397

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Juan Cole Comments....

As the scandal of the Downing Street Memo continues to percolate, it was confirmed on Thursday that the United States military used napalm-like incendiary bombs called MK77 in the Iraq War and then lied to their British allies about it. MK77 and napalm materials cling to the skin an inexorably burn the victim, and most countries in the world consider their use barbaric and something close to a war crime. The UK is signatory to a pledge not to use the weapons. British parliamentarians are now revisiting the question of whether MK77 was used against Fallujah last November. Persistent rumors circulated that the US used chemical weapons in that attack. Although MK77 is not classified as a chemical weapon, if it were used, it might help explain the rumors.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/06/6-us-servicemen-killed-at-ramadi-10.html

fugitive Croat general Ante Gotovina has been arrested in Canarias Spain

by $ / €

Thu Dec 08, 2005 16:10

and is about to sit special session for an extradition order to bring him to the Hague and face justice.

Ante Gotovina leaves Spain tomorrow morning.

by € / $

Fri Dec 09, 2005 18:39

he'll be in the Hague by afternoon. Next week we start all over again the "balkan conflict" as someone noted on the "pinter Nobel prize" article, that conflict was as much Croat as Serb. well actually there was a lot more to it than just that.
profile of Gotovina from aunty beeb
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4514150.stm

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ICC Hague & the rest of the world.

Comments (5 of 5)