The United States under President Obama will get closer to the International Criminal Court, predicts former international prosecutor Justice Richard Goldstone. But he doesn’t expect the US to ratify the Rome Statute any time soon.

Goldstone made his remarks to RNW before leaving the Netherlands for his second visit to Gaza as chair of the UN Gaza Commission. The Commission was convened by another international body the US only recently joined – the UN Human Rights Council.

“It’s a question of overcoming this political suspicion that powerful countries like the United States have against international bodies -- it’s not only the ICC. The United States and other powerful countries have the same suspicion about all international organizations, and they only join when they see it so clearly as being in their best interests. I think one day they’ll see the ICC in the same light.”

Recommendation
An independent taskforce of American legal experts agrees with Judge Goldstone. In a report issued in March the taskforce unanimously recommended that the US officially engage with the ICC and give serious consideration to joining the court.

The US under former president George W. Bush has never ratified the treaty setting up the ICC and, as such, does not fall under its jurisdiction. The ICC is the world's first permanent, international tribunal that will try individuals responsible for the most serious international crimes and provide redress to victims when states are unable or unwilling to do so.

Illegal
But for Washington joining the Court is not that simple. In fact under current US law, it’s even illegal for government officials to cooperate with the court.

The American Service Members Protection Act was passed in 2002. It’s known by opponents as the “The Hague Invasion Act” because it also authorizes America to use “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any US or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the ICC.”

'Don't tread on me'
John Bolton was US Ambassador of the United Nations under President Bush and is a long standing critic of the ICC:

“I think it says in the words of the American revolutionary slogan, “Don’t tread on me. Leave our people alone.” We are accountable to our own democratic system. The ICC is fundamentally illegitimate. It creates instruments of government power – particularly an unaccountable prosecutor with no democratic oversight and the prosecutorial power is one of the central executive powers – the other being the power to make war. When you have that kind of power embodied in an institution that has no accountability, that is a very dangerous situation.”

No toothless tiger
Despite the 'change' message from the new administration in Washington DC and the positive advice from the task force it still seems to be a long way before the US moves towards the ICC. To ratify the Rome Statute – the treaty that would commit the US to the court’s jurisdiction – President Obama needs the support of two thirds of the US Senate.

In the meantime, says Richard Goldstone, the ICC is far from being a toothless tiger without the support of the United States. But given the resources and reach the country has, its involvement with the Court would “strengthen us, and give us new teeth…Some new ones are needed to bite as hard as it needs to bite against impunity in the world.”

photo by michplay on flickr.com