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 Administration
Advocacy |
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The Washington Working Group for the ICC (WICC)
is the center of ICC advocacy efforts in Washington,
DC. Information on action directed at the administration
and the congress can be found on the WICC
website.
Please send us copies of
letters you have sent to the administration and any responses
so that we can add them in this section.
As a candidate, Senator Barack Obama stated that his administration would cooperate with the Court on Darfur and other cases and consult closely with military and legal advisers before making a decision on whether to join the Court.
- "The United States should cooperate with ICC investigations in a way that reflects American sovereignty and promotes our national security interests." Response to candidate questionnaire, 2004.
- "I will consult thoroughly with our military commanders and also examine the track record of the Court before reaching a decision on whether the U.S. should become a State Party to the ICC." Response to candidate questionnaire, October 6, 2007.
- "My administration would continue to cooperate with ongoing ICC investigations in Sudan." Response to candidate questionnaire, October 6, 2007.
- "The US also needs to work with the International Criminal Court to ramp up the pace of indictments of those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, while Khartoum must feel increased pressure to hand over those individuals already indicted by the Court." Press statement, April 23, 2008.
The Obama Administration has indicated that it will take a more positive approach toward
the ICC. Members of the administration have made positive statements about the Court and indicated that an interagency policy review is now underway.
In addition, several individuals sympathetic to the Court have been nominated to or are now in places of influence in the administration:
- Harold Hongju Koh, nominated to be Legal Adviser, US Department of State
- Michael Posner, nominated to be Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State
- Samantha Power, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs, National Security Council
- Eric P. Schwartz, nominated to be Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, US Department of State
- Anne-Marie Slaughter, Director of the Office of Policy Planning, US Department of State
Despite the positive signals and new opportunities of the new administration,
it has thus far limited its ICC actions mostly to statements on the Darfur and
support for the case against Omar Al Bashir, president of Sudan. It has
repeatedly declared that further involvement with the ICC must await the
completion of a review of US policy toward the ICC and that this will require
extensive consultations with the US military. This is proceeding very slowly.
If the administration does not act soon, it will miss out on important
opportunities to participate in the preparations now underway for the 2010
Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda.
What you can do
- Push the administration, directly and through Congress, to complete its policy review on the ICC.
- Urge the administration to take steps in the meantime to engage constructively with the ICC in ways that would not foreclose policy options, including participating in the preparations for the Review Conference and in the Assembly of States Parties, as Russia and China do even though they have no immediate plans to join the Court.
- Remind Congress of the importance of administration action on the ICC, including on issues such as Darfur, genocide, and child soldiers, using opportunities for this such as hearings.
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