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Thursday, July 17, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad."
- - Aldous Huxley
KNOW YOUR HISTORY - JULY 17th
1998 -- Original treaty vote creating a permanent International
Criminal Court (ICC).
The treaty entered into force on July 1, 2002, and now has its first
18 judges (7 are women), a prosecutor, a registrar, some staff and a building
to use in the Netherlands. The ICC has its own web site, and the international
community (90 nations are parties to the treaty) celebrates today. The
ICC will act as a court of last resort for allegations of genocide, war crimes,
and crimes against humanity, when no national court is genuinely willing or able
to investigate/prosecute. Official capacity is not a defense for this court.
This is an international effort at both accountability, and to promote true national
prosecutions when there are credible allegations of these serious crimes. The
ICC also includes remedies for victims and/or classes of victims, which is a
step forward for victims rights.
http://www.icc-cpi.int/php/show.php?id=home
RHINO HERE:
Today's RHINO'S
BOTTOM LINE gives an in depth look at the International
Criminal Court & the U.S. Government's efforts to thwart it. But first,
a reliable source of information on the situation in Liberia, and...
A half-million more people voted for Gore than Bush in 2000 & over a third
of all Americans call themselves Democrats. Nader received 2.78 million votes.
But who is programming talk radio to them? One answer is "The
Thom Hartmann Program - Uncommon Sense from the Radical Middle", broadcast
weekdays Noon-3pm EST. You can tune in on the internet at:
http://www.ieamericaradio.com ,
...or on Sirius Satellite channel 145
Today, Thursday July 17 is a great example of The Thom Hartmann Program:
12 Noon: Thom with guest Daniel Ellsberg
1pm: Thom & conservative guest Chuck
Morse whose running
for congress in Boston against Barney
Frank and according to Talkers
Magazine is one of the heavy hundred in talk radio.
2pm: Thom with editor Lisa Pease talk about The
Assassinations, written in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of President
John Kennedy's
assassination. This formidable book will provide answers to some the greatest
mysteries in American history÷the murders of JFK, RFK, MLK and Malcolm
X.
"AMNESTY ONLINE" - Regarding The Situation In Liberia
Here are a few selections from the current issue of Amnesty International's "AMNESTY
ONLINE" newsletter, one of many action oriented publications from
Amnesty USA. To Sign up, go to:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/join/index.asp?ms=H4
HUMAN RIGHTS IN BRIEF
As a result of the violent conflict between the Liberian government
and armed opposition groups, hundreds of thousands of people in the country are
reported to be without food or shelter. Humanitarian workers have been forced
to evacuate, and the situation of civilians is likely to deteriorate. As
the fighting moves into the capital of Monrovia, Amnesty International fears
that civilians are at imminent risk of being deliberately killed, tortured, or
forcibly recruited into military service.
Learn more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6129
ASK AMNESTY
Have a question about human rights in Liberia? Please submit your questions
to exiled Liberian journalist Hassan Bility. Mr. Bility was falsely accused
of plotting to kill Liberian president Charles Taylor and for having links to
a rebel group. He was held incommunicado and tortured for six months while in
prison. Send in your questions.
Find out more:
Ask Amnesty
More on human rights in Liberia:
Human Rights in Liberia
Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) is a web site sponsored by the Interhemispheric
Resource Center and the Institute for Policy Studies. The site has a wealth of
information separated into categories including Africa, Korea,U.S. Diplomacy,
Peace Activism, Hawks & Neocons: Planning the Agenda, and Non-Governmental
Organization Humanitarianism. Today's RHINO'S
BOTTOM LINE gives an in depth look
at the International Criminal Court & the U.S. Government's efforts to thwart
it. The article was written for FPIF by Harpinder Athwal & Maggie Gardner,
the communications manager & ICC Program Manager, respectively, for the World
Federalist Association. Check out the Foreign Policy In Focus Website at:
http://www.fpif.org
7:05:04 AM 
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White House Hobbles International Criminal Court, World Security
By Harpinder Athwal and Maggie Gardner | July 1, 2003
Editor : John Gershman, Interhemispheric Resource Center ( IRC )
Editor's Note: This piece was commissioned under the auspices of the Project Against the Present Danger.
The current U.S. administration has a near-religious aversion to the new, permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). The court, now with 90 member countries, was established to ensure that the rule of law prevails in places where the only alternative is impunity for the most gut-wrenchingly vicious crimes against humanity. Its opponents in the administration, however, claim that the court will become a forum for politicized prosecutions. In fact, they are so sure that the court is out to persecute U.S. citizens that they are willing to undermine some of the most basic foundations of international security to protect against this perceived, but nonexistent, threat.
For example, the United States insisted on UN Security Council renewal June 12 of a resolution exempting non-ICC countries' officials and personnel participating in UN-authorized missions from accountability before the ICC. The renewal for another year of the accountability exemption is not popular with council members. France, Germany, and Syria abstained from the vote, and in an open meeting, more than 40 U.S. allies spoke out against the resolution.
These allies repeated the laundry list of reasons why the ICC does not pose a credible threat to the United States, making this resolution unnecessary. Countries that contribute personnel to UN missions already retain full jurisdiction over their citizens through Status of Mission Agreements (SOMAs). Even without these SOMAs, the ICC could only act if no relevant national court were able and willing to investigate the matter; unless the U.S. was clearly shielding someone suspected of committing mass atrocity, there is no doubt that the ICC would defer to the U.S. judicial system. In addition, the ICC's Rome Statute is full of safeguards to prevent frivolous prosecutions, many of which originally were put in place by the United States. The ICC is not a rogue court. Its highly qualified judges, prosecutor, and administrator (all of whom are citizens of major U.S. allies) are concerned with issues such as the use of child soldiers in the Congo and systematic rape in Burma, not with political cases against U.S. citizens...
READ IT ALL AT:
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2003/0307icc.html
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Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged.
SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT:
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http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES)
Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
All copyrights belong to original publisher.
6:31:41 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
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