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.