Country-List Who Signed ICC Exemption Agreements

State Department Lists Countries Who Have Signed Article 98 Agreements

Following is the official answer to a question taken at the June 12 regular State Department briefing:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman June 12, 2003

Question Taken at June 12, 2003 Daily Press Briefing

COUNTRIES WHO HAVE SIGNED ARTICLE 98 AGREEMENTS WITH THE UNITED STATES

Question: Is there a secret list of countries who have signed Article 98 agreements with the United States and what countries have signed the agreement?

Answer: A total of 38 countries have publicly announced that they have concluded Article 98 or Non-Surrender Agreements with the United States.

The countries are: Uganda, Romania, Israel, East Timor, the Marshall Islands, Tajikistan, Palau, Mauritania, the Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan, Honduras, Micronesia, Afghanistan, the Gambia, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Djibouti, Tuvalu, Bahrain, Georgia, Nauru, Azerbaijan, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tonga, Sierra Leone, the Maldives, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Albania, Bhutan, Philippines, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bolivia, and Thailand.

Several other countries have signed agreements but have asked us not to identify them as signers. We are respecting their wishes.

We will continue our efforts to conclude these agreements with as many countries as possible. We seek to protect American citizens and non-U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. Armed Forces from the potential danger of being tried by a court that lacks sufficient safeguards against politically motivated prosecutions and was established outside the UN system by a treaty to which we are not a party.

The United States remains committed to justice, the practice of the rule of law, and full accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. As a sovereign nation, the United States accepts the responsibility to investigate and prosecute its own citizens for such offenses should they occur.

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