The International Criminal Court (ICC) is, like the EU and much about the UN in general, is NOT our friend. It must be stopped. President Clinton actually signed the Rome Treaty establishing the ICC but did not send it to the Senate for potential rejection. It would have been rejected. President George W. Bush rescinded that signature. It cannot constitutionally be accepted by the US as it may authorize US citizens to be brought to trial by foreigners in a foreign court of dubious jurisdiction.
The ICC’s mischief arose in a unprecedented prosecution of a purely internal matter – election violence in Kenya. Kenya has begeed the ICC to stay out of the matter but to no avail. The ICC indicted six Kenyan government and party officials for their alleged role in the election violence. Here’s an example of the typical interventionist nonsense groups such as Human Rights Watch used as their justification for meddling:
Human Rights Watch has consistently emphasized the importance of accountability for crimes committed during the violence that followed the election. Our researchers documented several patterns of violence, including extrajudicial killings and excessive use of force by the police, and ethnic-based attacks and reprisals by militia groups on both sides of the political divide. The post-election violence claimed over 1,100 lives and forced nearly 400,000 people from their homes.
Kenya sought to stop the action through the deferral of the ICC prosecution by the UN Security Council. It had African Union support:
In advance of a Mar. 18 U.N. Security Council meeting addressing the issue, the African Union, which includes many countries that have long provided a crucial bloc of support for the ICC, took Kenya’s side.
But guess who took the ICC’s side – yes, the Obama adminstration:
Meanwhile, the United States, once accused by Human Rights Watch of “going to war” with the ICC, came out against the deferral bid, effectively killing its chances: after a closed-door meeting on Apr. 8, Security Council President Nestor Osorio of Colombia said members “did not agree on the matter,” and that it would be shelved “for the time being.” This endorsement of the court’s work followed the Feb. 26 Security Council resolution referring the situation in Libya to the ICC – the first time the U.S. had voted in favour of such a move.
Your taxpayer dollars at work. But the Kenyans are now moving for the AU to recommend in its July meeting for a mass withdrawal from the Court:
“The suggestion is that if the Kenyans fail to get a deferral – as I think they will fail – then you’re likely to see movement at the AU reawakening the call for African states to withdraw from the court,” he told IPS in March, adding that this would likely happen around the time of the body’s upcoming summit in July.
Here is another report of the same:
The AU deal Kenya is pursuing entails backing a motion moved by a African Arab state that may see the Africa Union summit this July endorse a choreographed pull out from the manacle of the Rome Statute. Because of the indictment of al-Bashir, the use of an Arab state to float the motion would strategically be seen as taking Kenya out of the picture, and making her look like just part of the wave of Africa’s protests against alleged bias against the continent by ICC.
This would be another great blow to the globalists! It would make cities withdrawing from ICLEI look like a report of a cap pistol. But I’ll take it. What the United States should do is support the right of any nation to withdraw from any such globalist body, whether it be the ICC or CEDAW (used to attempt to bring legal abortion in a nation that does not want it – East Timor) or the CRC (The so-called child rights convention). We should not be involved in a potential monster. The Kenyan elections is a purely internal matter not the concern of the ICC or other foreigners. Let’s not wait until an American solider or high level government official is indicted or threatened with indictment by the ICC. Let’s strangle the cobra in the crib right now. Support the African Union’s move.
Article written by: Elwood "Sandy" Sanders
About Elwood Sanders
Elwood "Sandy" Sanders is a Hanover attorney who is an Appellate Procedure Consultant for Lantagne Legal Printing and has written ten scholarly legal articles. Sandy was also Virginia's first Appellate Defender and also helped bring curling in VA! (None of these titles imply any endorsement of Sanders’ views)
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