-Caveat Lector-
"Representatives from more than 100 countries overwhelmingly approved a
treaty to create a permanent war-crimes tribunal, despite strong U.S.
opposition. (The U.S. demanded special veto power to prevent prosecution of
any American "war criminal.".)
World Court May Be Key to Peace
By ANTHONY DEUTSCH
.c The Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- A permanent international criminal court
created through a treaty last year should be set up as soon as possible, a
global peace forum urged Thursday.
The new court ``is the promise that one day something greater than force will
prevail,'' Louise Arbour, chief prosecutor of the U.N. Yugoslav war crimes
tribunal, told delegates to The Hague Appeal for Peace.
Despite strong U.S. opposition, representatives from more than 100 countries
overwhelmingly approved a treaty in July to create the permanent criminal
tribunal.
The United States wanted the option to veto the prosecution of any American
citizen. With U.S. troops deployed in hot spots around the world, Washington
fears they could become targets of politically motivated charges.
So far, only Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago have ratified the treaty setting
up the court, which can be established in The Hague only after 60 countries
ratify the pact.
Arbour and others spoke of the shortcomings of the U.N. tribunals in The
Hague and Tanzania, working to bring to justice those responsible for
atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, respectively.
``The broader the reach of the international criminal court, the better it
will overcome these shortcomings of ad hoc justice,'' Arbour said.
Kosovo and NATO's bombing raids have been a focal point for debate among the
more than 8,000 government representatives, Nobel Peace laureates, U.N.
officials and voluntary groups in The Hague for the peace conference.
Divisions over whether force should be used to end the Kosovo conflict have
dashed hopes that the conference would produce a meaningful joint peace
statement.
Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta of East Timor praised the drive to
create the court. ``Its existence alone, with a powerful prosecutor, would be
a tremendous deterrent'' to the killings of innocent people, he said
Thursday.
The Hague Appeal for Peace, which began Wednesday and runs through Saturday,
is a follow-up to a similar 1899 conference. That gathering led to the
creation of the International Court of Justice and the International Court of
Arbitration, which also are based in The Hague.
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