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US wary of Mexican moves to protect UN staff
United Nations, Aug 25: Spurred by the devastation of UN headquarters in Baghdad, Mexico today seeks a Security Council resolution calling for nations around the world to adopt legislation to protect UN aid workers.
United Nations, Aug 25: Spurred by the devastation of UN headquarters in Baghdad, Mexico today seeks a Security Council resolution calling for nations around the world to adopt legislation to protect UN aid workers.
But the United States alone among the 15 council members objects to the measure because of a reference to the new International Criminal Court, which it vehemently opposes.
Diplomats said the state department was pressing Mexico to delete language on the court, which the Bush administration opposes as an infringement of sovereignty and a potential prosecutor of frivolous lawsuits against US officials abroad. The resolution urges nations to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against UN workers and those from other relief or non-governmental organization engaged in humanitarian efforts. It says they should adopt laws ensuring that violence against humanitarian workers was a criminal offense.
And it says that attacks on humanitarian workers and peacekeepers constitute a war crime under the statutes of the International Criminal Court, which was inaugurated in March and is strongly supported by the 15 European Union members.
The Mexican initiative, first raised in April, puts the United States in a delicate position of opposing a call for justice soon after 24 people were killed in Iraq last Tuesday in the worst assault against the united nations in half a century. Among those killed were Sergio Vieira De Mello, the 55-year old Brazilian head of mission, often mentioned as a future UN Secretary-General and his Chief of Staff Egyptian Nadia Younes, who had held many top posts in the world body for decades.
Bureau Report
Diplomats said the state department was pressing Mexico to delete language on the court, which the Bush administration opposes as an infringement of sovereignty and a potential prosecutor of frivolous lawsuits against US officials abroad. The resolution urges nations to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against UN workers and those from other relief or non-governmental organization engaged in humanitarian efforts. It says they should adopt laws ensuring that violence against humanitarian workers was a criminal offense.
And it says that attacks on humanitarian workers and peacekeepers constitute a war crime under the statutes of the International Criminal Court, which was inaugurated in March and is strongly supported by the 15 European Union members.
The Mexican initiative, first raised in April, puts the United States in a delicate position of opposing a call for justice soon after 24 people were killed in Iraq last Tuesday in the worst assault against the united nations in half a century. Among those killed were Sergio Vieira De Mello, the 55-year old Brazilian head of mission, often mentioned as a future UN Secretary-General and his Chief of Staff Egyptian Nadia Younes, who had held many top posts in the world body for decades.
Bureau Report