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Posted 8:41 PM
by Mary
Bush's Call for 'American Justice' at Odds with Actions on the ICC
American Allies Selecting Judges for International Criminal Court while Powell Pushes War in Iraq
WASHINGTON --- Colin Powell's speech to the UN Security Council on February 5th coincides with the historic first election of judges to the International Criminal Court, a process slated to occur between Monday, February 3 and Friday, February 7 at the second Assembly of States Parties held at the United Nations.
As Powell takes his army of diplomats to the UN on Wednesday to convince the nations of the world to wage war on Iraq, the American seats at the ICC groundbreaking elections for the judges will remain empty. For the first time, no American candidate has been presented for election to an international court, and American influence is not being brought to bear on the elections.
Heather Hamilton, Director of Programs at WFA, said: "It is perhaps more sad than ironic that the President of the U.S. challenged the world in his State of the Union address to live up to U.S. standards of justice, while his actions to undermine the ICC reflect an abdication of those very principles and a failure to recognize the ICC as a critical new tool to combat terrorism and war crimes in the 21st century.
"These two events represent an important nexus between Iraq and the ICC. The Bush administration's stance on both these issues has slowly undermined the international community and its ability to deal with international issues, while eroding American leadership abroad.
"The Bush Administration is ignoring many of the non-war options available to deal with Saddam Hussein, like creating a new ad-hoc tribunal to indict Hussein and his cronies for their atrocious gassing of the Kurds in the 1980s. Instead of supporting international law and order, the Bush Administration is practicing and condoning vigilante justice."
Bush stated in his State of the Union address on January 28: "more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others have met a different fate. Lets put it this way, they are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies..One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice."
Hamilton continued, "President's Bush's view of "American justice" is certainly neither 'American' nor 'justice'. It undermines the fundamental American principle of a right to trial and open and accountable judicial processes. Extra-judicial executions, torture, detention without trial - these are all contrary to American values and practice."
The stream of polls have displayed that the American people continue to support international institutions such as the UN and the ICC. The latest polls illustrate that the vast majority of Americans prefer giving the inspections time to work and addressing the Iraq crisis through the UN. Furthermore, multiple polls since 1999 consistently indicate that around two-thirds of the American public favors U.S. ratification of the ICC treaty.
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Polls on Iraq: PIPA (Program on International Policy Attitudes) and Knowledge Networks Poll, Dec. 3, 2002 - 64% called for the U.S. to return to the UN for authorization to take military action against Iraq , while 49% call for milder actions than sending a international military force by the UN, if the UN inspectors are blocked. Washington Post - ABC poll, Dec. 18, 2002 - 58% oppose U.S. unilateral action in Iraq
Polls on the International Criminal Court: Worldviews 2002 polling data, Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and The German Marshall Fund - 71% of the public feels the U.S. should participate in the ICC agreement.
The World Federalist Association coordinates the Washington Working Group on the International Criminal Court, composed of legislative and governmental affairs offices of thirty American non-governmental organizations committed to the cause of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The WICC supports and provides materials and information for education and advocacy about the Court. For more information, visit
USAforICC.org
Posted 9:32 AM
by Mary
from Martha Gallahue:
H.E. Mr. Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo Speaks to Values Caucus on Iraq and the Non-Aligned Movement
(November 7, 2002, but very relevant right now)
Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo from South Africa has become a hero to the non-governmental community (NGO) at the UN because of his success in opening up the debate on the Iraq resolution in the Security Council to the entire General Assembly. This open debate took place on October 16-17. That debate changed for a time the unrelenting thrust of the present US administration’s campaign for a pre-emptive strike in Iraq. All countries who spoke to the Security Council exhorted The SC to uphold both multilateral decisions and equal enforcement of binding resolutions. Despite his horrendously busy schedule with governmental obligations, Ambassador Kumalo took time out to speak to us NGO’s informally, upon Martha Gallahue’s (National Service Conference) invitation extended by The Values Caucus at the UN. As those debates in The Security Council shifted the locus of the issue, so did his talk with us clarify our approaches in challenging one country’s agenda as super power.
Ambassador Kumalo stated that the danger right now is of the UN losing focus on its mandate as stated in the Charter. There are two pillars to this mandate: one is to end forever the scourge of war and the other is to support the greatest number of people to live in better conditions than before as stated in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He told a story about his father and mother in Zulu land where the missionaries promoted literacy by teaching the women to read. His father too learned to read from the Bible. His father repeatedly talked about “The United Nations Organization” as that place where a better world was going to come. The rural poor kept their hopes alive with that thought. And the most oppressed kept struggling for freedom because of the existence of a UN that might someday help them. He learned from his father that the role of the UN is to give hope that someone somewhere cares. A democratic South Africa with the best Constitution in the world emerged as a result of this hope. Our work together is to hold the United Nations to its values and its principles that all peoples may achieve their freedom.
“It is people themselves that guarantee peace,” Ambassador Kumalo asserted. “We need to believe more in human beings. If we address the basic needs of people, peace will follow.” This approach is not something that gets into CNN, he remarked, as he was about to depart for Guinea Bissau, a small poor country mostly overlooked by the rest of the world. Nevertheless, we must be persistent and inclusive regardless of media coverage. He counseled also that bringing religious convictions to politics leads to fragmentation. We need to focus instead on “mass attraction” ie., those pervasive issues that hurt people.
The core task in the United States is to inform its citizens about what the UN is doing. People in the US don’t know enough about what the UN is and how it works unlike most other places in the world. What gets lost here is the “concentration of togetherness”. The UN is a home for unity of purpose and diversity of approach. We can fight the silence of the press by talking to everybody. Focus on what we have in common and appeal to that basic common humanity we share. We must work city by city, organization by organization. Get the story out in those magazines that do support the UN regardless of their size. Bring in religious and union leaders. Support the Secretary-General because this one has world-wide support.
Ambassador Kumalo, a trained journalist, was himself exiled from South Africa for twenty years in the time of apartheid. He resided in the United States and understands its dialectic well. From the perspective of the exiled, he honed his political acumen. So he shared with us his understanding. When developing strategic planning, first, go to the rules of procedure and learn them well. Then work beyond the rules. For example, if we think it is important to open The GA with a moment of silence, we should know that all sessions begin at 10am. But there is nothing to prevent the president from holding a moment of silence one minute before 10 am. He left us with the freedom to apply his wise counsel to even more critical action plans.
He closed by sharing that when the World Trade Center was brought down in 2001, he was then Vice-president of The General Assembly. He said that the whole world was torn apart by that event as was The GA and Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It was a time when people prayed together for one world at peace. Now the US must not separate from that caring shown to it by others.
We asked him to tell us about the Non-Aligned Movement at the UN. He answered that it began forty years ago when some countries did not want to align with either Russia or The United States during the Cold War. They stood against nuclear weapons and stood for the principle of sovereignty in the context of the cold war. Today, this 114 member Movement (NAM) is the largest single political group at the UN. It is not popular with the present White House Administration. While most of its members are part of the G-77 Group, NAM has asserted independence from it at times. NAM has taken clearly ethical positions regarding apartheid and nuclear disarmament.
For more on NAM, go to
PROUTWORD.ORG
For Ambassador Kumalo’s statement to the Security Council on the Situation between Iraq go to
Southafrica-newyork.net
Posted 10:04 AM
by Mary
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE US DEPT OF STATE
The Optional U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
The United States has officially become a State Party to the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict by depositing its ratification instruments at the United Nations today. The Senate unanimously provided its advice and consent to ratification and President Bush signed the instruments of ratification, which are another example of the commitment of the United States to the protection of children and to working with the international community to end abuses and recognize universal human rights norms. This protocol seeks to protect children from the harmful and widespread impact of armed conflict.
* A Global Problem: At any one time, over 300,000 children are used in armed conflict as soldiers, messengers, guards, runners, bearers, spies, cooks, and sex slaves. While the problem is most critical in Africa and Asia, it also exists in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's December 2002 report to the UN Security Council lists 23 parties, including governments and/or rebel groups in Afghanistan, Burundi, Congo, Liberia and Somalia, that recruit and use child soldiers in violation of internationally accepted standards. Children as young as ten years old have been abducted from their homes and forced into situations where they witness, and sometimes perpetrate, violence against their own families and communities. Demobilized child soldiers often need to be relocated in new communities and provided with assistance for their physical and mental wounds and interrupted education.
* A Global Response: The Optional Protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 25, 2000 and came into force February 12, 2002. One hundred ten countries have signed and 42 (now including the United States) have ratified it.
* Provisions of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict: State Parties agree, inter alia, to
-- take all feasible measures to ensure that under-18-year-olds do not take a direct part in hostilities;
-- establish 18 as the minimum age for compulsory recruitment into their armed forces;
--declare the minimum age for voluntary enlistment at time of deposit (in the U.S., 17 years old, with parental consent);
-- prohibit and criminalize recruitment of under-18-year-olds by armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State;
-- take all feasible measures to ensure that persons recruited or used contrary to protocol in hostilities within their jurisdiction are demobilized;
-- cooperate in the implementation of the protocol, including in the rehabilitation and social reintegration of persons who are victims of acts contrary to the protocol.
The Departments of State and Defense were deeply involved in the negotiations leading to the adoption of the protocol.
* The Department of Defense has determined that it can comply with the protocol while fully protecting U.S. military recruitment and readiness programs.
* U.S. law already prohibits the compulsory recruitment of persons under the age of 18 for any type of military service.
* U.S. law also prohibits accepting voluntary recruits below the age of 17.
* The protocol does not affect the U.S. military's ability to carry out its national security missions.
The United States supports programs to assist in the rehabilitation of child soldiers.
Two relevant funds that support programs through grants and cooperative agreements are the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, and the Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund. Money from both funds are usually transferred to USAID's overseas missions, where grants and cooperative agreements are negotiated and managed.
1. Displaced Children and Orphans Fund: The fund focuses on developing and supporting programs that relate to children affected by war. (The fund also supports children orphaned by AIDS, street children, and children with disabilities.) The fund has contributed more than $74,000,000 to programs in
28 countries since 1989. Most activities are carried out by nongovernmental organizations. The fund has programs in Angola, Brazil, Congo, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo, Liberia, Malawi, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.
2. Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund: Also in place since 1989, this fund works in war-affected countries to provide a dedicated source of financial and technical assistance for civilian victims of war. The fund supports programs that provide prosthetic services and programs that follow up such services with patient monitoring. The fund has provided over $60 million in more than 16 countries. The fund supports programs in Angola, Cambodia, Central America, Ethiopia, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Vietnam.
For additional information:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
FACT SHEET
The Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography
The United States has officially become a State Party to the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography by depositing its ratification instruments at the United Nations today. The Senate unanimously provided its advice and consent to ratification and President Bush signed the instruments of ratification, which are another example of the commitment of the United States to the protection of children and to working with the international community to end abuses and recognize universal human rights norms. This protocol seeks to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation.
* A global problem: We do not know how many millions of children in the world are victimized in the multi-billion dollar commercial sex trade, since most of this criminal activity is hidden. That said, an estimated one million children are currently trafficked for coerced sexual exploitation or labor. These exploited children are at increased risk of violence, drug abuse, and disease - including HIV/AIDS. On-line stalkers, international pornography rings, and sex tourism are increasing in a world where such problems are becoming more globalized.
* A global response:
1. International Labor Organization Protocol
182, adopted in 1999 and ratified by the U.S. in 2000, provides that State parties shall take immediate and effective measures to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labor, including child prostitution and pornography.
2. The "Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children," supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, was adopted by the United Nations in November 2000 and signed by the United States in December
2000, at the first opportunity to do so.
3. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography was adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 25, 2000 and came into force January 18, 2002. One hundred five countries have signed and 42 (now including the U.S.) have ratified it.
* The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography:
1. is the first instrument of international law to define these terms;
2. protects children up to age 18 by treating the actions of exploiters as criminal acts which merit serious punishment;
3. calls for State parties to provide victims with counseling and rehabilitation;
4. promotes international law enforcement cooperation with provisions covering such diverse issues as jurisdiction and extradition, mutual legal assistance, and asset confiscation;
5. is a step forward in efforts to combat trafficking of children for sexual exploitation.
* The United States has long been a leader, domestically and internationally, in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation.
We have:
1. statutes against child exploitation, which are reviewed and amended annually to meet the needs of investigations, technological changes, and globalization;
2. vigorously prosecuted domestic investigations of child prostitution, child pornography, and trafficking of children for illicit purposes;
3. victim and witness support services provided by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, including protections within the judicial process and, most recently, special services and visas for victims of trafficking and exploitation;
4. an impressive record of federal agencies
(Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Naturalization Service, US Customs, US Postal Service, and the Department of State Diplomatic Security Bureau) working with colleagues worldwide on prostitution/trafficking rings and on cyber-crimes, including child luring and child pornography;
5. international programs funded by USAID and the Departments of State and Labor (among others) to assist countries in prevention, protection, prosecution and rehabilitation. Orig. statement on
UNICEF
