NEW YORK, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The five countries that
contribute the most funding to the International Criminal Court
are seeking to cap the court's budget for the third year in a
row, according to diplomats involved in the negotiations.
The budget negotiations are taking place in New York this
week as part of the annual meeting of the Hague-based court's
120 member countries.
Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Italy, which together
contribute more than half the court's funding, have pushed for
zero growth in the court's budget because of the global
financial crisis, said the diplomats, who declined to talk on
the record.
The five states are trying to ensure that the "budgetary
constraints of all member states are well reflected in the ICC
budget," said a French diplomat.
The International Criminal Court, which investigates war
crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, had a budget of
103 million euros ($134 million) for 2011, 20 million euros ($26
million) short of what it says it needs for 2012.
The court has not received a budget increase for two years.
In 2009, its budget allocated funding for 218 prosecution staff,
responsible for investigations in four places. In 2011, the
same allocation covered investigations in seven places.
Asked what a zero-growth budget would mean in practical
terms, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said, "No Cote
D'Ivoire. No Libya."
The court's highest-profile detainee is Ivory Coast's former
President Laurent Gbagbo. The court is due to hold a hearing in
June next year to decide whether to confirm charges against him
related to violence after disputed elections in Ivory Coast last
year.
In Libya, the court has issued arrest warrants for Saif
Al-Islam, the son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Abdullah
Al-Senussi, the former Libya intelligence chief. It must also
investigate complaints against those who supported the uprising,
Moreno Ocampo said in an interview with Reuters last week.
Moreno Ocampo noted that three of the countries calling for
a cap on the ICC's budget, Britain, France and Germany, voted in
favor of a UN Security Council resolution referring Libya to the
court. "States parties referred Libya to us and now they say
they can't pay," he said.
Not all countries support the budget cap, and some say they
would be willing to contribute more. "Certainly African states
are not supportive of a zero-growth budget," said Dire Tladi,
legal adviser to the South African Mission to the United
Nations.
Many African nations want the ICC to launch investigations
in countries outside their continent, where all the court's
current investigations are based.
While the court's budget is normally adopted by consensus,
those involved in the negotiations said it may go to a vote this
time. Negotiations, which were scheduled to end last week, are
now set to end on Wednesday.
Jonathan O'Donohue of the international justice program at
Amnesty International said a budget squeeze would undercut the
court's mission. The ICC must be able to threaten to prosecute
if national courts fail to act. If the court cannot bring new
cases, its threats will be empty, O'Donohue said.
(Reporting by Rebecca Hamilton)
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