wfn.org | Board of Church and Society supports ICC

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 31, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
{458}

NOTE: This story is a sidebar to UMNS #457.

By United Methodist News Service

Here are excerpts from the written statement of the United Methodist
Board of Church and Society, presented July 15 at the treaty conference
of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Rome:

Nations and states locked in wars and strife, and peoples and
communities torn and tormented by the killings and atrocities such wars
and conflicts bring, now look up to this conference for the possibility
of reconciliation and the establishment of a lasting and durable peace
that the court might help facilitate. 

Our support of the establishment of the ICC is premised on the following
grounds, based on our church's theological understanding and social
principles:

*	International justice, peace and reconciliation. Delegates must
remember that this court must be primarily about victims and offenders.
It is to be about giving justice and reparation to victims and their
families and the bringing to justice, and ending impunity to, offenders
and perpetrators.
*	Just, independent and effective court. If the ICC is to be a
court that will afford redress to victims, including their families, of
heinous international crimes, and if it is to counter possible failure
and/or inadequacy of national systems to prosecute perpetrators of these
crimes, the court then must be vested with prosecutorial and fiscal
independence.
*	Genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of
aggression. Crimes that have diminished peaceful means and have resulted
in gross violations of human rights, including the maiming and killing
of human beings, must be tried by the court.
*	Gender justice and the rights of children. Crimes of sexual and
gender violence, including rape, sexual slavery, and enforced
prostitution, constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity and must
be punishable by the court. Children must be protected from
participating in armed conflicts.
*	Rights of indigenous peoples to the respect of their religious
places. The United Methodist Social Principles urge for policies and
practices that ensure the right of all religious groups, including
religious minorities and indigenous peoples and nations, to exercise
their faith free from legal, political or economic restrictions. The
court must ... help redress the injustices forced on indigenous
populations. 

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