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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 January 2012
This article deals with the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a point of contention in US relations with Germany and Japan. Both countries rank among America's closest allies, but – quite contrary to the US – they have also been supporting the establishment and operation of the ICC, although each to a different extent. The article analyzes the reasons for the three countries’ diverging attitudes and policies towards the establishment and operation of the Court, and contrasts Germany's and Japan's handling of the ICC issue vis-à-vis the US. It suggests that Berlin's idealistic position and full ICC support on the one hand, as well as Japan's cautious and pragmatic approach on the other, are both rooted not only in their individual evaluations of the ICC's institutional design, but also the varying degrees of their bi/multilateral orientation and the extent of their ‘dependence’ on US security commitments.
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30 Rome Statute, Article 12, Paragraph 2a.
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46 Luis Moreno-Ocampo has occupied this position since 2002, hence the personal pronoun ‘he’.
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58 Owada now fills a position as judge on the International Court of Justice, which is also located in The Hague.
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62 See e.g. Hisashi Owada and Kuniji Shibahara, ‘Rôma kaigi wo furikaete [Looking back at the Rome Conference]’, Jurisuto, No. 1146 (1999), pp. 4–28.
63 Neither Germany nor Japan utilized this article when joining the Court. Of the two permanent SC members that joined the ICC, GB and France, only the latter did.
64 Interview with Hisashi Owada (The Hague, 12 December 2007).
65 Owada, Statement.
66 Interview with Owada, The Hague, 12 December 2007.
67 Yasushi Masaki, ‘Kokusai keiji saibanjo he no nihon no kamei to kokunaihô seibi [Japan's accession to the International Criminal Court and the adjustment of its domestic law]’, Kokusai Mondai, No. 569 (4/2007): pp. 26–34 (p. 31). Explanation by Foreign Minister Tarô Aso, 166th Diet, Plenary Session, House of Representatives, Record of Proceedings, 22 March 2007.
68 For more detailed information, see e.g. Kanako Takayma, ‘Participation in the ICC and the National Criminal Law of Japan’, Japanese Yearbook of International Law, 51 (2008): pp. 384–408. See also e.g. Meierhenrich and Ko, ‘How do States Join’.
69 Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Okazaki, for example, stresses that Japan can send personnel to the ICC, once it becomes a member state. This would increase Japan's visibility at international organizations and help to have Japanese values reflected there. It would provide Tokyo with a better access to information and thus possibly with more influence. See Okazaki, Yasuyuki, ‘Kokusai keiji sainbanjo (ICC) kitei e no kamei to kongo ni mukete [Towards the membership in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the future]’, Hôritsu no Hiroba, 60 (9) (2007): pp. 8–53 (p. 50)Google Scholar.
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72 SC resolution, S/RES/1422, July 22, 2002.
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76 McGoldrick, ‘Legal and Political Significance’, p. 420.
77 The American Non-Governmental Organization Coalition for the International Criminal Court, ‘Chronology of US Opposition Related to the International Criminal Court’, http://www.amicc.org/docs/US%20Chronology.pdf (accessed 18 March 2011).
78 Ralph, Defending the Society of States, pp. 156–7.
79 US Department of State 2003, ASPA, sec. 2007.
80 Philip Shishkin, ‘Despite EU Deal, Germany Won't Exempt US From International Criminal Court’, Wall Street Journal, 1 October 2002.
81 Ralph, Defending the Society of States, p. 155 and p. 159.
82 Japan Policy and Politics, ‘Japan “not Considering” US demands on Criminal Court Waiver’, 26 August 2002, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_/ai_90916869 (accessed 13 June 2006).
83 Coalition for the International Criminal Court, ‘Regional and Country Info, Asia and Pacific, Asia, Japan’, 30 April 2007, http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=country&iduct=86 (accessed 13 July 2007).
84 Groenleer and Rijks, ‘The European Union and the International Criminal Court’, p. 177.
85 The Economist, ‘Let the Children Live’, 27 January 2007, vol. 382(8513) (online issue).
86 For example, explanations by Justice Minister, Chieko Kôno, and Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Itsunori Onodera. 163rd Diet, Justice Committee, House of Representatives, Record of Proceedings, 28 October 2005.
87 Interview with a bureaucrat from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was involved in the accession process, 8 September 2008, Tokyo
88 Interview with the same bureaucrat.
89 Bartam S. Brown, ‘Unilateralism, Multilateralism, and the International Criminal Court’, in Steward Patrick and Shepard Forman (eds.), Multilateralism and US Foreign Policy (Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner, 2002), pp. 323–44 (p. 330).
90 This term was used by Bush's Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Cf. Economist, ‘Let the Children Live’.
91 Maull et al., ‘German and Japanese Foreign Policies’, p. 5.
92 Cf. S/RES/1970 (2011), http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/245/58/PDF/N1124558.pdf?OpenElement (accessed 18 March).
