The United States and the International Criminal Court Research Paper

The United States and the International Criminal Court - Research Paper Example It officially came into existence in July 2002. This also marked the day when the President also signed the American Service members’ Protection Act (ASPA) restricting the U.S. from giving assistance to the ICC. The international norms as well as institutions have a significant effect on the states and individuals. The ICC is the world’s first permanent judicial body with utmost jurisdiction to try those individuals who were accused of war crimes or for that matter, crime against humanity (Eisea 2002). A large part of the United States foreign policy is moving at a smooth pace. The situation in the United States and all over the world had begun to deteriorate as the crime rate started to increase. It is for this reason that the majority of the international states had decided to create an international court dealing with mass atrocities. This would not only help solve various criminal acts but also prohibit the severe violation of human rights all across the world. There have been instances in the past whereby the United States underwent a great challenge from the International Criminal Court. United Nations and many other democratic nations have openly welcomed and supported the ICC for its performance, although the United States initially voted against the Statute of the International Criminal Court the reason being that ICC may assert jurisdiction over the U.S. soldiers charged with crime which would be a result of legitimate uses of force (Eisea 2002). As late as in 2005 the U nited States decided not to block a sensitive Security Council resolution indicating the situation in Darfur region of Sudan to the ICC prosecutor. The ICC depends on the support as well as cooperation by the States and other international organization (Taft & Wald 2009). The International Criminal Court jurisdiction extends to the most heinous crimes committed at international level. It thus becomes important for two reasons. It offers an advanced means to revise the foreign policies through alternatives especially after World War II. It extends its reach by offering substantial hope and underscoring the significance of international law (Sewall & Kaysen 2000). Even if the ICC acts alone or with a national court, it can provide a model for fair and deliberate administration of justice. With all the qualities it is equipped with, it faces countless uncertainties with regard to how it enforces justice and defines the interest that justice will serve. United States however is not conc erned with these issues faces by the International Criminal Court. The main concerns that the United States shows towards the Court are objections in the legal framework on which the ICC is built. ICC must not be bound on all states irrespective of the war crimes each one of them have. Secondly the ICC’s definitions of crimes such as genocide, war crimes and those perpetrated against humanity are narrower than the international law. The Rome Statute was seriously flawed according