Parliamentarians against impunity pact for US

Yemeni parliamentarians have dismissed reports that the government has signed an agreement with the US, committing itself to not surrender US nationals to the International Criminal Court (ICC). "The government has not signed such an agreement and it will never sign it," said Sinan al-Ajji, ruling party MP and rapporteur from the constitutional committee, which is reviewing the statute. "It's only a matter of time until Yemen ratifies the ICC agreement. We [the constitutional committee] have been reviewing the Rome Statute, and now it's within the agenda of the house and will be discussed in its next meetings," he added. In a letter addressed to the Yemeni Parliament, Amnesty International noted that "there have been a number of unconfirmed reports that the government of Yemen has signed an unlawful impunity agreement with the USA,” committing itself to not surrendering US nationals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the ICC. For more than two years, the US had been conducting a campaign to undermine the ICC, including by asking states to sign unlawful bilateral impunity agreements which committed them to not surrendering US personnel accused of international crimes, AI noted. Yemen signed the ICC statute on 28 December 2000 and is expected to consider ratification during upcoming parliamentary sessions which will start on 14 February. Opposition MPs have also voiced opposition to a possible impunity pact. MP Abdul Razaq al-Hagri, of the Islah Islamic opposition party, said: "even if the government has already signed, we, along with all our colleagues in the parliament, will demand it be revoked". "I do not know why the government has been reluctant over ratification although it is in its interests to ratify it as soon as possible, to protect ourselves from war crimes and genocide," commented MP, Shawkee al-Qadi, from the Islah party. Ratification of the statute will permit Yemen to participate in the ICC’s oversight and governing body and to nominate candidates for judges of the ICC. States that have ratified the statute accept the primary responsibility to investigate and prosecute people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in their national courts. The ICC comes into play only when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so. AI has called upon MPs to seek immediate clarification on the current status of ratification. "Amnesty International is calling on Yemeni parliamentarians, if they have not already done so, to seek clarification from the government as to whether such an agreement has been signed,” said a statement. Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, the Syrian Arab Republic, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen have all signed the statute, but have yet to ratify it. Jordan and Djibouti have completed the ratification process. The ICC statute was adopted on 17 July 1998 and entered into force on 1 July 2002. Apart from trying people for international crimes, the court is considered an essential mechanism to end impunity and establish an effective deterrent against crimes being committed in the future.