U.S.
Cash Rewards Program to Include International Criminal Court Arrests
by
Jennifer Trahan January 10th, 2013
[Jennifer
Trahan is associate clinical professor at the Center for Global
Affairs at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS).
She is also chair of the American Branch of the International Law Association
International Criminal Court Committee and was a member of the American Bar
Association’s 2010 International Criminal Court Task Force.]
Congress
recently approved a bill expanding the U.S.’s “Rewards for Justice” program to include apprehension of
individuals wanted by international tribunals such as the International
Criminal Court. The bill, passed by the Senate on December 20 and House
on January 3, and promoted by U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal
Justice Stephen J. Rapp, covers rewards for information leading to
the transfer to or conviction by an international criminal tribunal
(including a hybrid or mixed tribunal), of any foreign national accused of war
crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide ….
While
the U.S. Government still clearly remains wary of the ICC and is not
anticipated to ratify the ICC’s Rome Statue at any time in the near future, the
legislation is a further positive step that strengthens U.S. constructive
engagement with the Court. Other recent positive developments include U.S.
deployment of 100 special operations forces as military advisers to
Uganda to assist with the apprehension of members of the Lords Resistance
Army led by Joseph Kony; statements
by State Department Legal Advisor Harold H. Koh that the U.S. respects
its obligations as signatory to the
ICC’s Rome Statute (obligations the second Bush Administration attempted to
revoke); and U.S. participation at
ICC-related meetings, including meetings of the Assembly of States Parties
to the ICC.
During
the second term of the Obama Administration, the U.S. should further solidify
the US-ICC relationship by formally reactivating U.S. signatory obligations and
articulating a clear policy position of U.S. support for the Court, which is
designed to prosecute the worst instances of genocide, war crimes and crimes
against humanity. Congress should repeal the ban on direct U.S. financial
support of the Court, to which the U.S. has supported referral of the
situations in Libya and tacitly supported referral of the Darfur
situation. The U.S. should also press for referral by the U.N. Security
Council of the situation in Syria, which has now claimed an estimated 60,000
fatalities, to the Court for investigation and prosecution.
