American Service-Members' Protection Act

File:Netherlands,_The_Hague,_International_Criminal_Court.JPG, where the ICC was based until 2015]]

The United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The American Service-Members' Protection Act authorizes the President of the United States to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court". This authorization led to the act being nicknamed "The Hague Invasion Act",{{Cite web |date=2002-08-03 |title=U.S.: 'Hague Invasion Act' Becomes Law |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/08/03/us-hague-invasion-act-becomes-law |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en}} since the act would allow the president to order military action in The Hague, the seat of the ICC, to prevent American or allied officials and military personnel from being prosecuted or detained by the ICC.{{Cite journal |date=2002-07-08 |first=John |last=Sutherland |title=Who are America's real enemies?|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jul/08/usa.tomclancy |access-date=2022-10-13 |journal=The Guardian |language=en}}

The bill was introduced by U.S. Senator Jesse Helms (Republican from North Carolina) and U.S. Representative Tom DeLay (Republican from Texas),{{Cite press release |date=July 26, 2002 |title=US Congress Passes Anti-ICC "Hague Invasion Act"|url=http://www.iccnow.org/documents/07.26.02ASPAthruCongress.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926213658/http://www.iccnow.org/documents/07.26.02ASPAthruCongress.pdf |archive-date=September 26, 2007 |website=Coalition for the International Criminal Court}} as an amendment to the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States (H.R. 4775).{{Cite web |title=2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response To Terrorist Attacks on the United States (2002 - H.R. 4775)|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/107/hr4775 |access-date=October 13, 2022 |website=GovTrack.us |language=en}} The amendment (S.Amdt 3597) was passed 75–19 by the US Senate,{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 107th Congress - 2nd Session|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1072/vote_107_2_00140.htm |access-date=March 17, 2023 |website=www.senate.gov}} with 30 Democrats and 45 Republicans voting in support. The bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 2, 2002.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

Section 2008 of the Act authorizes the president of the U.S. "to use all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any person described in subsection (b) who is being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court". The subsection (b) specifies this authority shall extend to "Covered United States persons" (members of the Armed Forces of the United States, elected or appointed officials of the United States Government, and other persons employed by or working on behalf of the United States Government) and "Covered allied persons" (military personnel, elected or appointed officials, and other persons employed by or working on behalf of the government of a NATO member country, a major non-NATO ally including Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Argentina, the Republic of Korea, and New Zealand).{{Cite web |title=Document not Found |url=https://uscode.house.gov/docnotfound.xhtml |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=uscode.house.gov}}

The act prohibits federal, state, and local governments and agencies (including courts and law enforcement agencies) from assisting the International Criminal Court (ICC). For example, it prohibits the extradition of any person from the U.S. to the ICC; it prohibits the transfer of classified national security information and law enforcement information to the ICC; and it prohibits agents of the court from conducting investigations in the U.S.{{Cite web |last=Sen. Helms |first=Jesse [R-NC |date=2001-11-01 |title=Text - S.1610 - 107th Congress (2001-2002): American Servicemembers' Protection Act of 2001 |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/senate-bill/1610/text#:~:text=Prohibition%20on%20Investigative%20Activities%20of%20Agents |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=www.congress.gov}}

The act also prohibits U.S. military aid to countries that are party to the ICC. However, exceptions are allowed for aid to NATO members, major non-NATO allies, Taiwan, and countries that have entered into "Article 98 agreements", agreeing not to hand over U.S. nationals to the ICC. Additionally, the act does not prohibit the U.S. from assisting in the search and capture of foreign nationals wanted for prosecution by the ICC, specifically naming Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milošević, Omar al-Bashir and Osama bin Laden as examples.{{cite book |last1=Reinalda |first1=Bob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8qZ9AgAAQBAJ&dq=hague+invasion+act+military+aid+icc&pg=PT1154 |title=Routledge History of International Organizations: From 1815 to the Present Day |date=September 11, 2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-02404-9}}

Within the European Union reaction was overwhelmingly negative. A European Parliament resolution on July 4, 2002, condemned the act while it was in its draft stage.{{cite book |last1=Malekian |first1=Farhad |title=Jurisprudence of International Criminal Justice |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |page=89}}

Dutch reaction to the Act was negative, taking issue with section 2008 of the bill. The Dutch Ambassador to the United States, Boudewijn van Eenennaam, voiced his protests saying that the Dutch were "Not particularly amused by Section 2008" and that "we think the language used was ill-considered to say the least".{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Sean D. |title=United States Practice in International Law: Volume 2, 2002-2004 |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=309}} Meanwhile the Dutch House of Representatives passed a motion expressing its concern about the bill and its "detrimental" effects on trans-Atlantic relations.{{cite book |title=Making EU Foreign Policy National Preferences, European Norms and Common Policies |date=2011 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan UK |page=54}} The Danish Minister for European Affairs, Bertel Haarder, stated that the law contradicted the idea of upholding human rights and the rule of law,{{cite book |last1=Jorgensen |first1=Malcolm |title=American Foreign Policy Ideology and the International Rule of Law Contesting Power Through the International Criminal Court |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=180}} while the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer penned a letter cautioning that "adopting the ASPA would open a rift between the U.S. and the European Union on this important issue [of the ICC]".{{cite web |title=Europe Should Oppose U.S. Law on War Crimes Court |date=December 10, 2001 |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2001/12/10/europe-should-oppose-us-law-war-crimes-court |publisher=Human Rights Watch}}

The Coalition for the International Criminal Court has called the act a "dangerous symbolic opposition to international criminal justice"{{cite web |title=William Pace: The Hague Invasion Act remains dangerous |url=https://www.diplomatic-council.org/node/432 |publisher=Diplomatic Council}} and Human Rights Watch condemned the law.

In 2022, an attempt to repeal the bill, sponsored by US Representative Ilhan Omar, was introduced but died in Congress in committee; no vote was ever taken.{{Cite web |title=Repeal Hague Invasion Act (2022 - H.R. 7523) |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7523 |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=GovTrack.us |language=en}}

• United States and the International Criminal Court
• Universal jurisdiction
• Status of forces agreement

{{reflist}}

• Text of the American Service-Members' Protection Act: [https://2001-2009.state.gov/t/pm/rls/othr/misc/23425.htm]. Accessed March 6, 2008.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20021106170247/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:HR04775: Bill Summary & Status for the 107th Congress : HR4775] information at the Library of Congress. Accessed January 8, 2007.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040126080112/http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r107%3AFLD001%3AS10042 Transcript of Helms's introduction of the amendment] at the Library of Congress. Accessed January 26, 2004.
• Jesse Helms, "[http://www.jochen-birk.de/helms.htm Helms Introduces Amendment to Protect Servicemen From International Criminal Court]" (Press Release). September 26, 2001. Accessed January 8, 2007.

{{International Criminal Court}}

Category:Acts of the 107th United States Congress

Category:2002 in military history

Category:United States federal defense and national security legislation

Category:International Criminal Court

Category:Netherlands–United States relations

Category:Riders to United States federal appropriations legislation

Category:George W. Bush administration controversies