Wednesday, July 2, 2003 11:32:0 p.m

Kenneth Roth, executive director of the HRW, has written to US State
Secretary Colin Powell urging him to stop all US ambassadors from
“bullying” small and poor countries into signing ICC immunity
agreement with the US.

Roth disclosed that an assistant state secretary informed foreign
ministers of Caribbean states that they would lose the benefits for
veterinary programs if their governments did not sign the immunity
pact.

“Because most ICC-member states are democracies with a relatively
strong commitment to the rule of law, the threatened aid cutoffs
represent a sanction primarily targeting states that abide by
democratic values,” Roth said.

“US officials are engaged in a worldwide campaign pressing small,
vulnerable and often fragile democratic governments to sign bilateral
agreements with Washington. As you know, these agreements will exempt
270 million Americans and foreign nationals working under contract
with the US government from the authority of the court. While we
believe the agreements the United States is proposing violate the ICC
treaty by going beyond the letter and spirit of Article 98, I am not
writing to argue the unlawfulness of these instruments,” said Roth in
his letter to Powell dated June 30, a copy of which was posted on the
ICC website.

“Whatever the administration thinks of the International Criminal
Court, its tactics in pursuing these bilateral agreements are
unconscionable. Other governments can plainly see that punitive
measures are being used primarily against poor and relatively weak
states with few options other than to give in to the United States.
Signing an agreement will put an ICC state party in breach of its
legal obligations and at odds with other important national interests.
This raw misuse of US power makes the policy all the more
objectionable,” Roth wrote.

“We urge you to bring an end to the vendetta against the ICC that US
diplomats around the world have been compelled to carry out. This is
an initiative that is likely to do far more harm to the United States
than it could ever do to the court. This campaign is creating a legacy
that will tar the Bush administration for years to come. With
everything else taking place in the world today, the United States
ought to adopt a wiser approach to the ICC,” Roth wrote.