After wrapping
itself in a mantle of secrecy and darkness the Panamanian
government, under pressure from a Tica who works as an aide for
it, nominated the Costa Rican Elizabeth Odio Benito as the
candidate of Panama for the position of magistrate on the
International Criminal Court (ICC). Now the Foreign Ministry
and
the national government --- again behind turning their backs on
public opinion --- have signed with the United States of
America
the Arias Cerjack-Watt Accord, which exempts US citizens from
the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
The purpose of
international humanitarian law --- something that the Foreign
Ministry and Panamanian government seek to forget or disavow ---
is to protect the victims of armed conflicts and limit the
means
and methods of war. Grave violations of this body of law are
war
crimes. Those responsible for crimes of this kind must be tried
and punished. During the decade of the 1990s there were
established for the first time in 50 years two international
criminal tribunals with the authority to judge war crimes
committed in specific conflicts. Tribunals such as the
International Criminal Court, with its seat in The Hague, are a
very important means to resolve controversies and guarantee
respect for international law.
The Arias
Cerjack-Watt Accord, throughout its five articles, contradicts
the spirit and the letter of the Statute of Rome that
instituted
the International Criminal Court. That accord impedes the
International Criminal Court from taking a case and obliges the
turnover of a US citizen accused of crimes within the
jurisdiction of the ICC to American authorities, based solely
and exclusively on the promise of the United States to
investigate and prosecute the accused. It effectively amends
the
jurisdiction of the ICC, given that the main premise of the
Statute of Rome is that it permits the ICC to intervene and
investigate or prosecute when the national systems “are
indisposed to or can’t” conduct trials in good
faith.
The Arias
Cerjack-Watt Accord --- a bilateral immunity accord signed on
June 23 --- is a violation of Article 98 of the Statute of Rome
and leads Panama to infringe its obligations under the statute
that created the ICC and, moreover, Panamanian law. It weakens
the effectiveness and credibility of the court and serves to
eliminate its function of vigilance, the fundamental principle
of the Statute of Rome and an essential provision to deter
impunity.
The Arias
Cerjack-Watt Accord extends coverage beyond military personnel
(see Article 1) and embraces all US citizens, even if they
aren’t carrying out an official mission in the territory
of
another country. However, the Statute of Rome and its Article
98
have a very strict provision: the exemption is only applicable
to military personnel or civilians closely linked to the army,
who are “carrying out” an official mission in a
country’s territory.
The Arias
Cerjack-Watt Accord infringes basic and important provisions of
the Statute of Rome, such as the legal obligation that Panama
has to fully cooperate with the ICC. Moreover, Panama, as a
party to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, has a
legal obligation to abstain from acts by virtue of which the
object of a treaty is frustrated.
Despite the
immense pressure by the government of the United States to sign
bilateral immunity accords, an important number of US allies
and
regional organizations have refused. Argentina, Canada, New
Zealand, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago,
Slovenia, Croatia, plus the 15 members of the European Union
are
among the nations that have rejected the proposal. Ten EU
members, along with other associated states, have issued a
declaration that affirms the common position of the European
Union rejecting the US bilateral immunity accords and resolves
that their national policies will be in line with this
stance.
The EU has
declared that the bilateral accords proposed by the United
States violate Article 98 of the Statute of Rome. However, it
matters little to Arias Cerjack and the rest of the executive
branch that they now function as violators of international
law.
Go away,
shameless ones! Go away, embarrassments!
Also in this
section:
What they're saying about Saddam's weapons of mass
destruction
Girvan,
CARICOM
Carson, The mass firing in
Venezuela's oil industry
Electronic Frontier
Foundation, Music file sharing
Jackson, Impunity and
revolutionary justice
Reporters Without Borders,
Fidel's crackdown on journalists
Teachers Association of
the
Republic of Panama, Message to the Panamanian
People
Bernal, From Odio to
impunity
