Sierra Leone: government signs icc immunity deal

CAMPAIGN FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE - PRESS RELEASE ON SIGNING OF ARTICLE 98
AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES

Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) notes with disappointment the
recent decision of the Government of Sierra Leone to sign an Article
98 agreement with the United States. Although the full text of the
agreement has not been made public, the official Sierra Leone News
Agency (SLENA) stated that the agreement "essentially obliges Sierra
Leone and the United States to first seek each other's consent before
surrendering any of their suspected nationals to the International
Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution."

The goal of the agreement is to exempt U.S. military and civilian
personnel from the jurisdiction of the ICC. SLENA quoted a crucial
clause of the Agreement which reads: "Persons of one Party present in
the territory of the other shall not, absent the expressed consent of
the first Party, (a) be surrendered or transferred by any means to
the International Criminal Court for any purpose, or (b) be
surrendered or transferred by any means to any other entity or third
country, or expelled to a third country, for the purpose of surrender
to or transfer to the International Criminal Court."

Article 98 agreements have been referred to by the Coalition for the
International Criminal Court (CICC) as "impunity agreements." They
have been criticized and condemned by all the leading human rights
NGOs in the world, including Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch. CGG endorses the views of Human Rights Watch that "such
impunity agreements violate the Rome Statute and should be opposed.
If State parties, as well as signatories of the Rome Statute, sign
such agreements they would breach their legal obligations under the
Rome Statute."

Considering the barbarity of the horrendous crimes and atrocities
committed in Sierra Leone during the war, it is sad that Sierra Leone
signed such an agreement, which seeks to reverse recent advances in
international justice. Sierra Leone was one of the first countries to
ratify the Rome Statute establishing the ICC (15 September 2000) and
has been one of the leading proponents of the Court. More than many
others, Sierra Leoneans have learned too many times the hard costs of
amnesty and impunity. According to the Attorney-General and Minister
of Justice, "(B) y ratifying the Rome Statute, Sierra Leone joined
the international community in its resolution to guarantee lasting
respect for international justice, in the belief that this is a great
step towards a world in which such crimes no longer occur." It is sad
that with the stroke of a pen the Sierra Leone government has
undermined these principles.

It is also incongruous that United States whilst actively promoting
and funding the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which demonstrates
the commitment of the international community to recognize and bring
to justice the persons who bear the greatest responsibility for the
abuse in the Sierra Leone conflict, is at the same time undermining
the very principles of international justice, which the ICC seeks to
promote by facilitating widespread immunity for U.S. nationals
through negotiated bilateral agreements.

CGG calls on Parliament, and in particular it's Human Rights
Committee, to condemn this agreement, which seeks to endorse a
two-tier system of international justice - one for US nationals and
another for the rest of the world. As the agreement falls within the
legislative competence of Parliament, Parliament must demand that the
Agreement be sent to it forthwith and must resolutely reject this
Agreement when it is sent to it for ratification. CGG notes that
Sierra Leone's Ambassador to the UN and Deputy Permanent
Representative Allieu Kanu had stated to the Sixth Committee - 57th
Session of the U.N. General Assembly on the Establishment of the
International Criminal Court that Sierra Leone was "calling for a
fair, effective, independent and an unfettered International Criminal
Court" and "will seek together with our regional partners an
advisory legal opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
on the so called Article 98 Agreements." Parliament must urge the
Government to work to achieve this goal and seek the opinion of the
ICJ.

CGG welcomes recent moves to enact an enabling legislation to make
the provisions of the Rome Statute applicable nationally and calls
for such efforts to be expedited.

Dated: 14th April 2003