16193: Bellegarde-Smith: Haiti, U.S. Soldiers and the International Criminal Court (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>

Has Haiti agreed to impunity for US soldiers at the International Criminal
Court? - Haiti Support Group - 25 July 2003

The Haiti Support Group - a solidarity organisation based in London, UK - is
calling on the government of Haiti to clarify its position in respect of
United States government attempts to pressure countries to exempt US soldiers from
prosecution at the International Criminal Court.

At the beginning of July, the administration of President George W. Bush cut
off military aid to 35 friendly countries in retaliation for their support of
the International Criminal Court (ICC) and refusal to exempt US soldiers from
the ICC's jurisdiction. Six of the countries listed under the US suspension
order are Caricom members: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Haiti Support Group raises the issue following the publication of a press
report stating that four other Caricom members - including Haiti - have
succumbed to US pressure and promised to sign an exemption agreement.

In letters to Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Prime Minister
Yvon Neptune sent on 24 July, the Haiti Support Group's director, Charles Arthur,
referred to an article from the Caribbean Update web site, entitled
"Caribbean yields to US over International Court", dated 18 July 2003, which contained
the following section:

"Guyana has agreed to exempt American soldiers from prosecution in the
International Criminal Court (ICC), in the face of a possible cut in military aid
from the US....Guyana, along with Jamaica, Grenada and Haiti, which have signed
the treaty, but have yet to ratify it, apparently bowed under pressure and
promised that the exemption agreement would be signed later this year."

The Haiti Support Group is calling on the government of Haiti to clarify
whether or not the report is correct in stating that Haiti has "promised" to sign
an exemption agreement later this year.

In the letter to President Aristide and Prime Minister Neptune, the Haiti
Support Group asks, "If such a commitment has been given, we are anxious to know
by what process this decision was arrived at. We have seen no report of any
Parliamentary or public discussion of the issue."

The letter continued, "We know that the United States is able to exert a
variety of pressures in order to secure immunity from potential war crime
indictments against members of the US military, but we believe that the government of
Haiti's first responsibility is to the Haitian people whom it represents, and
that therefore a full and transparent public debate of the issue should be
held in Haiti."


Background

On 26 February 1999, Haiti signed the Rome Statute of the ICC, but has yet to
ratify it. At that time, a Haitian government representative indicated that
Haiti fully supported the establishment of the ICC, and would welcome technical
assistance from those countries that had completed ratification.

The Coalition for the International Criminal Court is a network of well over
1,000 non-governmental organisations advocating for a fair, effective and
independent International Criminal Court. See the web site - http://www.iccnow.org/

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See the Haiti Support Group web site:
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
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