ABA Renews its Support for the International Criminal Court

At its annual meeting in New York, the ABA House of Delegates voted to urge the United States to support the International Criminal Court.  The House of Delegates (which is the primary policy-making body for the American Bar Association) voted to approve Resolution 108A.  Click here to download the document.  Download 108A.doc . 

The text of the resolution reads as follows:

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges the United States Government to expand and broaden United States interaction with the International Criminal Court, including cooperation with the Court’s investigations and proceedings;

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Association calls on the United States Government to participate in all future sessions of the International Criminal Court’s governing body, the Assembly of States Parties, and preparations for the Review Conference to be held in 2010.

The report accompanying the resolution states in part: "The ICC has been castigated as a threat to U.S. interests. Those criticisms, however, were made before the ICC established a track record. After six years of operation, the ICC has proven itself to be a responsible judicial institution. The ICC has undertaken four investigations in Africa of particularly horrendous situations, and it has acted prudently and without political bias."

The resolution was originally sponsored by the ABA Section on International Law and the ABA Criminal Justice Section.

One problem with ABA resolutions is that the ABA always uses the same numbers.  Instead of numbering it 2008-AM-108A they just call it 108A, which makes it impossible to distinguish from Resolution 108A from the Midyear Meeting, or from last year's annual meeting.  It would be nice if the ABA got its act together on these things and started numbering them in ways that would be more useful for professors, students, legislators, and lawyers.

(mew)