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Explaining Late Ratification of the Rome Statute

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The Institutionalization of the International Criminal Court

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Abstract

For late ratifiers that did not buy into the ICC in the first five years after the Rome conference, the world of international criminal law was bipolar, as the G.W. Bush Administration and the EU battled for their respective agendas. Both leaders approached third states bilaterally and used external pressure to achieve their goals. Accordingly, for late ratifiers the ratification decision was a functional choice. The Obama Administration revised the US policy from opposition to positive engagement, which influenced some states’ decision to join the ICC. This chapter discusses alternative explanations to external pressure exercised by the USA and the EU. They include various domestic preferences, common identities, persuasion, and states’ anticipations of other states’ reaction. Short studies on the policies of Chile, the Czech Republic, East Timor, Japan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunis, and Uganda toward the ICC enrich the theoretical discussion.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The BIA was justified with national interests: “East Timor can not forget the role that the international community played in assisting it to achieve its long-desired status. In particular, it owes a debt of gratitude to the United States, which to a leading part in assisting East Timor on the road to independence […]. East Timor needed the support of all members of the international community in the past; it will continue to need their support in the future. History has proved that this tiny half-island, with a population of only 800,000 people is uniquely vulnerable. This new country is trying to protect its interests and its people in the new world in which it has found itself since May 20, 2002” (Camara 2002).

  2. 2.

    Funnily enough, the ratification occurred two days after my ex-Mother in Law, Ing. Studenovská, had personally approached Klaus on the issue. Mrs. Studenovská knows Klaus in person and I attended with her a service in honor of the Czech reformer Hus in Betlémská Chapel in Prague on July 6, 2009. Since Klaus was expected to come to the service too, I asked Mrs. Studenovská to inquire the President about the ratification. I was not close enough to hear their discussion, but she told me right afterwards that she had asked Klaus why he has not ratified the Rome Statute and he was annoyed by the question. While this is an anecdote and there is no further evidence on the issue, it might well be that Klaus reached his tipping point, because of this unexpected question. No doubt Czech Republic would have joined the ICC sooner or later, but the timing might have been different. For a picture of Ing. Miroslava Studenovská talking with President Klaus after the service at the Betlémská Chapel, see Církev československá husitská (2009); report of Klaus’ appearance at the service, see Týden (2009).

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  1. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Salla Huikuri

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Huikuri, S. (2019). Explaining Late Ratification of the Rome Statute. In: The Institutionalization of the International Criminal Court. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95585-8_6

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