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• United States Diplomatic Mission to Italy
• U.S. Department of State

Summary

One month after the International Criminal Court (ICC) officially came into existence on July 1, 2002, the President signed legislation that limits U.S. government support and assistance to the ICC, curtails military assistance to many countries that have ratified the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, and most controversially among European allies, authorizes the President to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release" of certain U.S. and allied persons who may be detained or tried by the ICC. While most U.S. allies support the ICC, the Bush Administration firmly opposes it and has renounced any U.S. obligations under the treaty. The Administration initially vetoed a United Nations resolution to extend the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia because it did not contain any guarantee that U.S. participants would be immune to prosecution by the ICC. Ultimately, the Security Council and the U.S. delegation were able to reach a compromise that defers for one year any prosecution of participants in U.N. established or authorized missions, whose home countries have not ratified the Rome Statute. While the compromise falls short of the Administration's original goal of ensuring permanent immunity for U.S. citizens from the ICC, it suggests that the role of the U.N. Security Council under the Rome Statute may prove effective in addressing some of the concerns U.S. opponents of the ICC have voiced. This report outlines the main objections the United States has raised with respect to the ICC and analyzes the American Servicemembers' Protection Act (ASPA) enacted to regulate the U.S. cooperation with the ICC. The report concludes with a discussion of the implications for the United States, as a non-ratifying country, as the ICC comes into force, as well as the Administration's apparent strategy with regard to the ICC. This report is intended to serve as an update to the fifth and sixth parts of CRS Report RL31437, International Criminal Court: Overview and Selected Legal Issues.

Related Reports:
• RL31495

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