U.S. 'Resets' Relationship With International Criminal Court

On Tuesday, June 15, 2010 Legal Advisor for the U.S. State Department, Harold H. Koh, and Ambassador-at-Large for War Crime Issues, Stephen J. Rapp engaged in a press briefing to discuss their visit to Kampala, Uganda for the International Criminal Court Review Conference. Koh addressed any concerns regarding the U.S. relationship with the Court when he said, "[T]o paraphrase Churchill, this is not the end, it was not the beginning of the end, but it did feel like the end of the beginning of the U.S's 12-year relationship with this court. After 12 years, I think we have reset the default on the U.S. relationship with the court from hostility to positive engagement. In this case, principled engagement worked to protect our interest, to improve the outcome, and to bring us renewed international goodwill. As one delegate put it to me, the U.S. was once again seen, with respect to the ICC, as part of the solution and not the problem. The outcome in Kampala demonstrates again principled engagement can protect and advance our interests, it can help the states parties to find better solutions, and make for a better court, better protection of our interests, and a better relationship going forward between the U.S. and the ICC."

Koh did not hold back in further complimenting themselves and the rest of the U.S. delegation for their hard work "to resume engagement with the court, states parties, observer nations, and many private organizations involved in international criminal law". The U.S. delegation should be praised for their hard work at this conference. Rapp made sure to highlight that "one of the main aspects of [the] conference in which…[U.S.] principled engagement was so positive was working with the court in stocktaking exercises, which looked at issues like complementarity, which is this idea that you should have justice at the national level in preference to justice at the international level".

Click HERE for the full transcript of the press conference.