Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 11, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:

""crime of aggression" means use of force by a State against another State contrary to the UN Charter;".

The purpose of this amendment is to provide a definition of a crime of aggression. Amendments Nos. 11 and 17 aim to extend the scope of the crimes covered by this Bill to include this crime. The scope would include the illegal invasion of Iraq. Members of the US Administration, its coalition partners and anybody who facilitated the invasion, including members of this Government, would be guilty of an ICC offence.

These amendments seek to extend the meaning of the ICC offence for the purposes of the Bill. I wish to extend it to include other crimes under international rights and humanitarian law that are outside the scope of the Rome Statute, such as crimes of aggression, extrajudicial killings and renditions. The Rome Statute was signed in 1998 and it is a pity it has taken us so long to deal with this Bill. A referendum on the International Criminal Court was passed in 2001 by a substantial majority of the Irish people, yet we have only come to deal with the Report and Final stages of the Bill in 2006.

The nature of modern warfare has greatly changed since 1998 and the principle objective of this Bill is to bring an end to impunity. The implementation process of the ICC and the Rome Statute should be seen as an opportunity to address impunity in all serious crimes to the fullest possible extent.

Extrajudicial killings and renditions, both of which are crimes under international law, are carried out with impunity. Debate on the war in Iraq and the CIA's extraordinary renditions through Shannon Airport has arisen since the signing of the Rome Statute and the Irish public's endorsement of the ICC in the 2001 constitutional referendum. My amendments would bring clarity by ensuring that these crimes are covered by the ICC. It is a pity the US will not be covered because that country has tried to avoid dealing with the ICC by entering into bilateral agreements and pressuring other states not to engage with the court.

In recent years we have seen all too frequent examples of extrajudicial killings in the occupied Palestinian territories, where Israel has used helicopter gunships to attack communities and civilians. The impunity with which the Israeli regime operates is demonstrated by the continuation of the preferential trading arrangements set out in the EU-Israel Association Agreement. It should be borne in mind that only last February, Shannon Airport was used to facilitate the sale by the US of attack helicopters to Israel. Last Friday, two Israeli Air Force Boeing 707 aircraft, one of which was an intelligence communications craft, transported members of the Israeli army through Shannon Airport. According to the information I received, the facilities of the Great Southern Hotel in Shannon were availed of in this instance. The use of Shannon Airport by states that are involved in activities such as extraordinary rendition or extrajudicial killings must be brought within the parameters of the ICC so that we can look to the court to bring those responsible to justice. Amendment No. 17 makes provision in this regard.

It is a pity the Minister did not take Amnesty International's views into account on Committee Stage. That organisation's submission on the Bill, which was circulated among members of the Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, stated:

Crimes under international law include not only genocide, crimes against humanity and the war crimes listed in the Statute, but also include war crimes not listed in the Statute (such as certain grave breaches and other serious violations of Protocol I and certain violations of international humanitarian law in non-international armed conflict) and torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances which are not committed on a widespread or systematic basis. To ensure that the international system of justice is fully effective, states should ensure that their legislation makes each of these crimes under international law also crimes under national law.

Although the Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention against Torture) Act 2000 and the Geneva Conventions (Amendment Act) 1998 appear to criminalize torture and other war crimes not listed in the Rome Statute, it does not seem that extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances are criminalized in Irish law. Both crimes should, therefore, be incorporated into the Bill in accordance with their definitions under international law as set out in the 1989 UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions and the 1992 UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

We should use the opportunity of the International Criminal Court Bill 2003 to give effect to the amendments I have tabled.

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