The Delegation of European Union Parliamentarians has issued a strong voice urging all member countries to work towards an agreement on the crime of aggression.

David Rupiny, Kampala

Addressing journalists at the International Criminal Court Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda, Richard Howitt (MEP UK) and Chair of the European Parliament Delegation, said the delegation has come with the full mandate calling for agreement on the crime of aggression.

Howitt asserted that two European members of the Security Council, the United Kingdom and France, should not defend their privileges thereby denying the opportunity for lawyers and non-lawyers to rule on the legality of war for the whole world.

Howitt’s statement is in reference to attempts by the American delegation to block the adoption of the crime of aggression into the Rome Statute, arguing that it is too broad and vague and would add more work and strain to the activities of the Court.

A line of argument being maintained by those opposed to the crime of aggression is that the discretion to define and determine the jurisdiction of crime of aggression should be left to the Security Council, a non-elected and powerful body comprising the US, China and Russia.

“The right place is the ICC. The European Union which was forged out of war crimes of the Second World War, should not today prevent the same crimes tried at Tokyo and Nuremberg from being tried for the wars of the twenty-first century,” said Howitt.

Howitt reasoned that the EU countries would be making a historic mistake if they don’t send out a strong message on the crime of aggression, adding that they will hold EU member countries to account if they failed to deliver.

The responsibility to decide on the amendment rests with each individual state party.

Proponents of crime of aggression contend that exclusion of the crime of aggression would render the Rome Statute incomplete and do nothing to end impunity for the most atrocious crimes. The opponents say the current draft of the law is still vague and needs more fine-tuning.

A member of the US delegation, Elisabeth van Schaack, said the US feels crime of aggression would overwhelm the Court, especially that it has three other crimes – genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – to deal with

“Crime of aggression is not only too vague but would distract the Court from pursuing atrocious crimes,” she said. She also vehemently denied that the US fears it would affect them directly, countering that there are many countries that could be affected.

But Howitt said that the EU wants to see crime of aggression defined in a way which encompasses states’ and individuals’ obligations in line with the responsibility to protect as spelt out in the “In Larger Freedom” UN Report of 2005.

“Only this way will we see the advancement of peace, justice, the rule of law and defence of human rights worldwide,” he said.

Ana Gomez, a Portuguese member of the European parliament and member of the European delegation at Kampala, said they have been lobbying the US Congress and the Obama administration for their support for the ICC and the crime of aggression. She said while there are pockets of resistance from some congressmen and women and some elements of the military, the Obama administration is largely in positive on the issue.

ICC chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, meanwhile, says the ICC is a legal institution and will investigate and prosecute crime of aggression if the states parties agree on the crime.

However, the crime of aggression is conspicuously absent from a leaked draft of a final communiqué to be released later today. Details of countries behind the draft statement is not yet clear, but it is believed to have the full backing of the US delegation.

Howitt said the European Parliament supports the Belgian proposal to Article 8 of the Rome Statute, relating to prohibited weapons in internal conflict. Europe is leading international opinion in the creation of an international arms trade treaty, compounding the existing ban on the export of the weapons of torture.

“We must not say here that it is legal for a government to gas or shoot the civilians of its own country, with the very same weapons which would be illegal if the victims were from another state,” Howitt said.

Howitt also asserted that the European Parliament supports the deletion of Article 124 of the Statute which seeks derogation of nationals of states parties of the jurisdiction of the ICC for seven years following ratification of the Statute. France and Colombia are the only countries that evoked this article.

The head of the EU Parliamentary delegation added that they want to see more states pledge to abolish immunity agreements entered into with third parties.

“We welcome the United States’ decision to stop any new such immunity agreements,” he said, adding that they want to use Europe’s own international agreements to seek to end the practice for every country. “Ending impunity must mean ending impunity everywhere, without exception, ” he said.