[Shadow_Group] Fw: UN Signs Pact with New World Court Opposed by U.S.

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UN Signs Pact with New World Court Opposed by U.S.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations signed a cooperation
agreement on Monday with the new International Criminal Court, despite
objections to the tribunal from the United States.  

The pact that would encourage "greater cooperation and consultation" on
administration and judicial matters was signed by U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and Judge Phillipe Kirsch of Canada, the court's president.  

The 191-member U.N. General adopted a resolution last month approving the
agreement. But in a nod to the Bush administration, the assembly's
resolution says that the world body would be reimbursed by nations
supporting the court for any expenses occurred.  

Some 97 countries, including the entire European Union, have ratified the
1998 statute creating the court. The last three nations to ratify two
weeks ago were Burundi, Liberia and Guyana.  
  

The Bush administration is bitterly opposed to the new court and
rescinded former President Bill Clinton's signature to the tribunal's
statutes, arguing that it would expose U.S. soldiers and officials to
frivolous law suits.  
 
But supporters of the court say the ICC steps in only when a country is
unwilling or unable to investigate, making it highly unlikely U.S.
citizens would be targeted.  
 
The court, based at The Hague in the Netherlands, is the first permanent
world tribunal set up to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide
and other gross human rights abuses.  
 
Its first investigations involve war crimes in the eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo, where thousands have been killed, raped and
tortured.  
 
Another probe centers on leaders of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance
Army, who have kidnapped and tortured thousands of children in their
camps in Sudan.  
 
On Friday, U.S. representative Stuart Holliday warned the Security
Council after a vote to increase U.N. peacekeepers in the Congo that "any
expenses resulting from the provision of any cooperation or support to
the ICC would need to be on a reimbursable basis."  
 
William Pace, head of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court,
representing 2,000 advocacy groups, said, that "by allowing for crucial
cooperation between two of the most powerful global justice institutions,
this agreement will play an important role in the fight to end impunity
for the perpetrators of the world's most atrocious crimes."  
 
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To those who have not and believe in the Constitution, 
Take a similar Oath now to the Constitution! 
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Those who enforce laws contrary to the Constitution, 
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