American peacekeepers could soon face prosecution for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, now that the U.S. is dropping a United Nations resolution looking for continued exemption.
U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham made the announcement today in New York, after unsuccessfully seeking a compromise that would limit the exemption to one final year.
“The United States has decided not to proceed further with consideration and action on the draft at this time in order to avoid a prolonged and divisive debate,” said Cunningham, according to Reuters. “We are dropping action on this resolution.”
The Bush administration has continually argued the court could subject U.S. troops to frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions, though the 94 countries which approved the 1998 Rome Treaty which created the body say no one should be exempt, and there are safeguards to prevent frivolous cases.
The U.S. has previously threatened to veto U.N. peacekeeping missions if Americans would be subject to prosecution, but Cunningham didn’t say if the threat would now become reality.
According to the Associated Press, several members of the Security Council cited recent reports of American abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in rejecting the compromise.
Cunningham said the draft resolution proposed by the U.S. would not have protected soldiers accused of wrongdoing at Abu Ghraib.
“The objection has nothing to do with bringing to justice those individuals who may have committed heinous crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, something the United States strongly supports, as you know,” he said. “For example, we have already initiated prosecutions related to the charges of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and have several investigations under way.”
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was also opposed to granting a third year of exemption.
