New Clause 8 - Amendments of the ICC Statute
International Criminal Court Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Mr Crispin Blunt (Reigate, Conservative)
We shall come back to San Marino later, when we discuss universal jurisdiction.
The simple purpose of my new clause is to allow Parliament to bind the Executive. If the institution works in the way it should, the legislation will apply for decades to come. When the Executive, whoever they are, agree amendments to the statute of Rome, they will have to come back to Parliament within six months to get the approval of both Houses.
We know how important the statute is, and the scope of the crimes that it covers. I have given one example of how the institution might develop, and the Minister has not denied that it might develop in that way. Although it is not the policy of this or any other Government that the ICC should develop in such a way, it has the potential to do so, if the states parties so agree. The changes to the statute would and could be fundamental to the way in which we police international crime in future. Although the United Kingdom Executive can currently veto changes effected under the definition of crimes, which is extremely important, they do not have a veto on how the court operates.
The court's operation may be subject to changes that we do not like, but that may be imposed on the United Kingdom. Changes to the statute could be controversial in this country. It is proper that Parliament should now give itself the power to ensure that it formally approves changes to the statute of Rome. That is all that the new clause is designed to do. Its trigger would ensure that the Government had to obtain the approval of both Houses of Parliament within six months of the adoption of an amendment to the ICC statute. The new clause states that if they did not, they would have to
``give notice for withdrawal under Article 127''.
That would force the Executive to receive Parliament's approval for their actions in Parliament.
The new clause is a necessary provision, so the Committee should add it to the Bill. We do not know who the Executive will be next month, next decade or five decades from now, yet the institution that the Committee will in part be responsible for establishing will probably last that long. We should protect Parliament from future Executives. I hope that the Committee will accept the new clause.