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