US Willing to work with the ICC
The International Court of Justice (ICC) was established in 2002, as a world court responsible for prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity, crime of aggression and genocide. Since it’s inception, the ICC has opened investigation concerning various crimes particularly in Northern Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Kenya. The court has indicted fourteen people, four of whom are in custody.
Even though the United States still hasn’t ratified the Rome Statatue- a document that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), the government has revealed it’s willingness to work with the court.
The U.S. government announced that it would support key war crimes prosecutions being pursued by the ICC, most notably the indictment issued against President Omar al- Bashir of Sudan for crimes against humanity. Other indicted victims from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan are yet to appear before the court. The US government is prepared to work with the ICC to bring these individuals to justice, notwithstanding any legal barriers that might prevent direct course of action by the US.
"Our concern was that a prosecutor who was not under any kind of accountability, who's elected for nine years, who doesn't answer to any kind of national system, could say, 'Well, over here, we've got someone who murdered 200,000 people. Over here, we have maybe some soldiers that came in to protect some of those people, and some folks died in collateral damage. We'll go ahead and prosecute both,'" Rapp said. "We remain concerned that it might be possible for a prosecutor who's not accountable to anyone to target an American who's out doing the work that 3 million Americans are doing around the world today, protecting people from terror and atrocity," Rapp said. (www.cnn.com)