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ACIJLP calls on Egypt to not renew BIA

18 July 2005

On the heels of the Jordanian Parliament’s rejection of the BIA
last week, please see this call from the Arab Center for the Independence
of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) asking the
Egyptian government to not renew its BIA with the US (which it signed
in 2003).

Best Wishes,

Anjali Kamat.
Outreach Liaison
Middle East, North Africa and Europe
Coalition for the International Criminal Court
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ACIJLP calls on the Egyptian government not to renew bilateral treaty with the US on the ICC

On the 17th July 2005 the world will celebrate the 7th anniversary of
the international community’s agreeing on the founding statute of
the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the 1998 Rome Conference.
The statute entered into force at the start of July 2002 in the
shadow of US opposition to an international mechanism for the
examination of war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of
aggression and crimes of genocide. The US has expressed this
opposition in several ways, the most dangerous of which is its
ratification of bilateral judicial cooperation treaties with a large
number of countries with the aim of stripping the ICC’s founding
statute of effect.

The Egyptian government signed a judicial cooperation treaty on the
ICC with the US in March 2003. This treaty is renewable every two
years. The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the
Legal Profession (ACIJLP) urges the Egyptian government now to renew
the treaty, following the example of Jordan which - in support of
international criminal justice - bluntly refused to ratify the US
treaty on the 14th July 2005.

In the context of this position taken by Jordan ACIJLP urges Arab
governments and parliaments to adopt a similar stance and refuse to
cooperate with US policy towards the ICC. Signing such treaties will
entrench a policy of US double standards – a policy the effects
of which are suffered by many countries, especially those in the Arab
region, their governments and the people. These treaties are at odds
with the spirit of international criminal justice and the philosophy
underlying the establishment of a permanent criminal court.

On the occasion of the commemoration of the world day for criminal
justice, ACIJLP, in its capacity as coordinator of the Coalition of
Arab Non Governmental Organizations for the ICC, urges Coalition
member organizations to lobby their governments to ratify the ICC
founding statute and not renew the treaties ratified by the American
government concerning the ICC, following the Jordanian example.