MEDIA REACTION - INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001861 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA, PM, INL STATE FOR INR/R/MR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR KPAO OPRC CI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) ¶1. On August 30, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El Mercurio" carried an editorial entitled "Complexities of the ICC." Quote: ¶2. "The Senate postponed the vote on the constitutional reform that would allow Chile to ratify the Rome Treaty, which created the International Criminal Court (ICC),so that the Defense Committee can review the eventual consequences before its approval. This was a prudent step, because the treaty and the reforms have been at the center of controversy, doubts, and problems...which have prevented a thorough and careful analysis of the consequences of signing the treaty.... Important nations such as Japan, China, the United States, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia...have refused to adhere to the ICC. Others have agreed to its jurisdiction only for foreigners, with significant restrictions, or...have concluded special agreements with the United States. The reluctance to sign the ICC is based on the inconvenience of yielding jurisdictional sovereignty...but most generally it is based on the underlying threat that the court be used as a political instrument by large powers to intervene in the internal affairs of smaller nations.... Our legislators and leaders have a great responsibility with regard to the Rome Treaty, because of the underlying complexities and questions that have emerged during the ratification process, and especially because of the consequences it could have regarding sovereignty and national defense." KELLY