I’ll tell you about the case of the International Criminal Court
Italics by Teo Dalavecuras
"Through its constant support for the CPI (the International Criminal Court, ed) and the promotion of its universal action, Europe demonstrates the seriousness of its commitment to deterring violations and promoting an international order based on rules , peace and security ”. These are some of the confident and well-intentioned propositions contained in the "Open letter on the independence of the International Criminal Court" released in recent days without too much fanfare but signed by as many as 55 European politicians (foreign ministers, prime ministers, etc., united by a position, let's say thus, progressive-transnational decidedly oriented towards the western shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Scandinavians prevail and among them not surprisingly the Danes but there is no shortage of Spaniards, French, exponents of what was once called the Benelux and subjects of His Majesty, some well known as Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong. The signature, at the bottom of the letter, of two former NATO secretaries general, Javier Solana and Willy Claes, and a former president of the Atlantic Alliance Parliamentary Assembly (Bert Koenders ) has nothing accidental, and not even the signature of Italian politicians such as Emma Bonino and Massimo D'Alema, two guarantees, differently titled only, of equal Atlantic loyalty. They are distinguished by their absence of Germans, with the notable exception of former Foreign Minister Sygmar Gabriel, president for some years of the Social Democratic party.
For there to be no doubts, the signatories declare that they have witnessed "with great concern the provision issued in the United States by former President Donald Trump and the sanctions imposed against the Court staff and the members of their families" and, a few lines below, they add : "We welcome the decision of the Biden administration to lift the sanctions against the CPI, which will open the possibility to work on strengthening the institutions and norms of international justice with our main transatlantic ally".
This motion of the affections, and in particular the sentence just quoted, does not fall from heaven. “At this time we are deeply concerned by the court's unjustified public criticism, including the groundless accusation of anti-Semitism, regarding the investigation into the crimes alleged to have been committed on occupied Palestinian territory,” the petitioners underline. In fact, the CPI (International Criminal Court – ICC in English) established in Rome in 1998, to which more than 120 countries adhere to date, has supranational jurisdiction over any individual responsible for crimes against humanity such as war crimes, of genocide, etc., but has been particularly disliked in recent years by the United States for its intention to investigate any crimes under its jurisdiction committed in Afghanistan, and to Israel for similar reasons in relation to the Gaza Strip. The mandate of the current prosecutor, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, expires in this month of June, another circumstance not unrelated, probably, to the initiative of the fifty-five.
However, fifty-five write at a certain point that "it is necessary to refrain from any public criticism of the decisions of the ICC, a criticism that could contribute to threatening the independence of the Court and the public's trust in its authority": a sentence that could have the homonymous of Emma Bonino who decades ago, as a radical militant, certainly had at heart the free expression of opinions (a little less the namesake of Massimo D'Alema who decades ago asked for 3 billion lire in compensation from Giorgio Forattini for a cartoon that evidently was not very polite to him).
But these are details. The fundamental fact is the reference to "strengthening the institutions and norms of international justice with our main transatlantic ally". It is the fundamental fact because in this poignant motion the signatories of the letter forget a small detail: together with China, India, Russia, Israel and other countries, the United States of America have always refused to ratify the founding act of the CPI, in line with their constant claim to impose their jurisdiction all over the world (which is more than understandable in the light of their undisputed and for the moment indisputable projection of power). So the idea that uncle Joe may decide to submit to the ICC statute at the onset of the lifting of Trump sanctions against Fatou Bensouda would sound comical, were it not expressed in such a convoluted form.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/vi-racconto-il-caso-della-corte-penale-internazionale/ on Sat, 05 Jun 2021 06:01:10 +0000.