[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 57 (Wednesday, April 21, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S2528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 59--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT 
THE UNITED STATES SHOULD NEITHER BECOME A SIGNATORY TO THE ROME STATUTE 
OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT NOR ATTEND THE REVIEW CONFERENCE OF 
            THE ROME STATUTE IN KAMPALA, UGANDA IN MAY 2010

  Mr. VITTER (for himself, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Kyl, and Mr. Crapo) 
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 59

       Whereas President William Clinton signed the Rome Statute 
     on the International Criminal Court (``Rome Statute'') 
     through a designee on December 31, 2000, but acknowledged 
     ``significant flaws'' in the treaty, and recommended that 
     President-elect George W. Bush not submit the treaty to the 
     Senate for advice and consent;
       Whereas the ``significant flaws'' identified by President 
     Clinton--including the fact that the International Criminal 
     Court (``ICC'') claims the power to exercise authority and 
     jurisdiction over the citizens of nations that have not 
     ratified the treaty--persist and have not been remedied;
       Whereas President Bush, through Undersecretary of State for 
     Arms Control John Bolton, notified United Nations Secretary-
     General Kofi Annan on May 6, 2002, that the United States 
     does not intend to become a party to the Rome Statute and 
     therefore has no legal obligations arising from its signature 
     on December 31, 2000;
       Whereas the United States Government, acting through its 
     elected representatives, is the sole arbiter regarding 
     decisions on the use of military force in its defense or in 
     the defense of its allies;
       Whereas the Rome Statute undermines national sovereignty 
     and established principles of customary international law by 
     claiming the authority in certain circumstances to 
     investigate and prosecute citizens and military personnel of 
     a country that is not a party to the treaty and has not 
     accepted the jurisdiction of the court;
       Whereas the United Nations Security Council--upon which the 
     United States holds a permanent, veto-wielding seat--is 
     conferred under the United Nations Charter with ``primary 
     responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and 
     security'';
       Whereas the authority of the ICC inappropriately intrudes 
     upon the United Nations Security Council's primary 
     responsibility under the United Nations Charter for the 
     maintenance of international peace and security;
       Whereas, in September 2009, the ICC Office of the 
     Prosecutor announced that ICC personnel were investigating 
     accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity 
     allegedly committed by United States and NATO forces fighting 
     in Afghanistan;
       Whereas the parties to the Rome Statute have failed to 
     establish a definition of the ``crime of aggression'';
       Whereas the United States Government has at various times 
     been accused of ``aggression'', including the congressionally 
     authorized use of military force against Iraq in 2003;
       Whereas the Rome Statute would subject United States 
     citizens and military personnel charged with crimes before 
     the ICC to trial and punishment without the basic rights and 
     protections provided to criminal defendants and guaranteed by 
     the United States Constitution, including a right to a jury 
     trial by one's peers, protection from double jeopardy, the 
     right to confront one's accusers, and the right to a speedy 
     trial;
       Whereas the first Review Conference on the Rome Statute 
     will be held in Kampala, Uganda from May 31 to June 11, 2010, 
     to consider amendments to the Rome Statute and to take stock 
     of its implementation and impact; and
       Whereas the draft provisional agenda of the Review 
     Conference indicates that the Assembly of States Parties of 
     the ICC has no intention of addressing the grave and 
     persistent concerns of the United States regarding the Rome 
     Statute: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the national interests of the United States are neither 
     preserved nor advanced by becoming a State Party to the Rome 
     Statute on the International Criminal Court;
       (2) the Rome Statute undermines the sovereignty of the 
     United States, hinders its ability to defend itself and its 
     allies with military force, and conflicts with the principles 
     of the United States Constitution;
       (3) President Barack Obama should declare that the United 
     States does not intend to ratify the Rome Statute and that 
     the United States does not presently consider itself to be a 
     signatory of the treaty; and
       (4) given that the Assembly of States Parties has no 
     discernable intention of addressing United States concerns 
     regarding the treaty, President Obama should neither attend 
     nor send a delegation to the Review Conference of the Rome 
     Statute in Kampala, Uganda commencing May 31, 2010.

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