![]() Congress, for its part, enacted laws in 19 that limited what support the government could provide the court. Bush essentially withdrew that signature. President Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but, calling it flawed, did not send it to the Senate for ratification. But the United States has long kept its distance, concerned that the tribunal could someday try to prosecute Americans. Many democracies joined the International Criminal Court, including close American allies like Britain. In the past, the United Nations Security Council had established ad hoc tribunals to address atrocities in places like the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The International Criminal Court was created two decades ago as a standing venue to investigate war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity under a 1998 treaty called the Rome Statute. “Russian forces have been committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian people deserve justice,” she said, adding, “We are also working to expose Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine so the world can see what Russian forces are doing.” But she said the government “supports a range of investigations to identify and hold accountable those who are responsible” for Russian war crimes, including through Ukrainian prosecutors, the United Nations “and the International Criminal Court, among others.” Representatives at the Pentagon, State Department, Justice Department, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.Īdrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, provided a statement that did not address the Pentagon’s opposition to sharing evidence. is the problem child here, and the sooner we can get the information into the hands of the I.C.C., the better off the world will be.” opposed the legislative change - it passed overwhelmingly - and they are now trying to undermine the letter and spirit of the law,” Mr. Most of the people who described the internal dispute did so on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.īut Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who helped push Congress to ease the restrictions last year on aiding the International Criminal Court, confirmed the parameters of the dispute and blamed the Defense Department for its reluctance. Biden has not yet made a decision, the officials said. 3 in an attempt to resolve the dispute, the officials said, but Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. The National Security Council convened a cabinet-level “principals committee” meeting on Feb. But inside the Biden administration, a policy dispute over whether to do so continues to play out behind closed doors. In December, Congress modified longstanding legal restrictions on American help to the court, allowing the United States to assist with its investigations and eventual prosecutions related to the war in Ukraine. The information reportedly includes material about decisions by Russian officials to deliberately target civilian infrastructure and to abduct thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied territory. The evidence is said to include details relevant to an investigation the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, began after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago. President Biden has yet to resolve the impasse, officials said. The rest of the administration, including intelligence agencies and the State and Justice Departments, favors giving the evidence to the court, the officials said. WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is blocking the Biden administration from sharing evidence with the International Criminal Court in The Hague gathered by American intelligence agencies about Russian atrocities in Ukraine, according to current and former officials briefed on the matter.Īmerican military leaders oppose helping the court investigate Russians because they fear setting a precedent that might help pave the way for it to prosecute Americans.
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