Tiina Intelmann: The United States and the ICC: Support From Outside of the Rome Statute System Matters

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On April 3, 2013, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry published an article in this newspaper, explaining how the U.S. War Crimes Rewards Program had been expanded to offering up to $5 million for information that leads to the arrest, transfer or conviction of the top three leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) -- Joseph Kony, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen, as well as the military commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Sylvestre Mudacumura.

All four individuals are subject to arrest warrants by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity. As Secretary of State Kerry highlighted, "Impunity is the enemy of peace. Accountability is essential to preventing atrocities from taking place in the future."

This article was published a few days after the United States, together with another non-State Party, Rwanda, faced issues directly linked to the International Criminal Court in Kigali. On March 18, 2013, Bosco Ntaganda, who is subject to two ICC arrest warrants and accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), presented himself at the American Embassy in Kigali and stated that he wanted to surrender to the ICC. A few days after, Ntaganda was transferred to The Hague.

These are just a few examples of how much the ICC depends on the assistance and support not only from States' Parties to the Rome Statute, but also from non-States Parties and the broader international community for the sake of justice and accountability for atrocity crimes.

The way the Court has been operating since its establishment in 2002 has clearly shown the strengths and weaknesses of the Rome Statute as put in place in 1998. It is a court of last resort ready to step in if everything else fails, and over the past ten years it has gained wide recognition for its work. At the same time the Rome Statute system is lacking enforcement mechanisms in cases of a refusal to cooperate.

The Court certainly depends on continued assistance and support, at all levels and from different international actors. But not only that: States also should assist each other in strengthening domestic capacity to ensure that investigations and prosecutions of serious crimes of international concern can take place at the national level. As the Preamble of the Rome Statute reads, it is the "duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes.

As it stands now, in 2013, concerted efforts are still needed to ensure that domestic capacity to investigate and prosecute international crimes becomes a practical reality.

Follow Tiina Intelmann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TIntelmann

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Senator Mark Udall 'Strongly Inclined' To Support Chuck Hagel Secretary Of Defense Nomination (VIDEO)

Senator Mark Udall told HuffPost Live Thursday that he is inching closer to supporting Senator Chuck Hagel's nomination for Secretary of Defense.

Udall, who has been critical of Hagel's stance on the discrimination against LGBT service members, told HuffPost Live's Alicia Menendez that he was satisfied with Hagel's response to his questions on the topic during his confirmation hearings.

"I was satisfied with Senator Hagel's answer," Udall said. "He's evolved in his views. I tip my hat to him. America's evolved in its views when it comes to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."

Udall added that Hagel's positions on Israel and Iran, as well as Don't Ask Don't Tell and alternative energy, also have him leaning towards voting in favor of his confirmation.

"All of that adds up to me to a compelling case to support Senator Hagel's nomination when the vote is held," Udall said. "I want to review the record one last time, but I'm strongly inclined to support Senator Hagel."

Watch the full segment at HuffPost Live.

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Poll Finds Support For Deficit Reduction, Opposition To Spending Cuts

* Most Americans want deficit reduction in near term

* Opposition to cuts in education, Social Security, Medicare

* Public favors 'Obamacare' exchanges and Medicaid expansion

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Most Americans want President Barack Obama and Congress to reduce the federal deficit without cutting Medicare, Social Security and education, according to polling data released Thursday.

A joint survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kaiser Family Foundation also showed majorities support President Barack Obama's plan to expand Medicaid and provide subsidized private health insurance to working families through new online state exchanges.

The survey found that two-thirds of Americans want Washington to reduce the deficit in the short term rather than wait for a stronger economy. That included 74 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of independents and 57 percent of Democrats.

At the same time, about two-thirds of the 1,347 adults polled Jan. 3-9 rejected cuts to public education, Medicare and Social Security as a means of deficit reduction. Three-quarters said deficit reduction can occur without cuts to Medicare specifically. The findings have a 3 percentage point margin of error.

The data could suggest public support for Obama as he heads into another round of intensive deficit negotiations with Republicans while vowing to preserve the current structures of Medicare and the national Medicaid program for the poor. The two programs together are expected to cost more than $1 trillion in 2013 and serve just under 100 million people who are elderly, disabled or poor.

But experts said the results suggest political risk for Republicans and Democrats alike as deficit talks go forward.

"Both parties want a grand bargain. But I can't find a detail on either side. They want the other side to say what Medicare would look like before they come to the table. That is nervousness about public opinion," said Robert Blendon, a Harvard professor who studies political trends in healthcare.

Most respondents said deficit reduction can happen without cuts to Medicare and opposed a possible increase in the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 that Democrats and Republicans have considered as a deficit-cutting option.

Majorities also opposed reducing payments to hospitals and other Medicare healthcare providers or raising payroll taxes on workers and employers to help fund the program for the elderly and disabled.

Instead, 68 percent of Americans favored a proposal to save money by reducing prescription drug prices for low-income people who receive Medicare benefits.

Separately, a new poll by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press also found that 72 percent of Americans believe reducing the federal budget deficit should be a top priority. More than two-thirds of the 1,500 adults polled by Pew from Jan. 9 to 13 favored making Medicare and Social Security financially sound.

The survey by Robert Wood Johnson, Harvard and Kaiser also found that majorities of Americans favor two controversial provisions of Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that would extend health coverage to more than 30 million people who currently have no health insurance.

The first provision, which would create state healthcare exchanges, was favored by 55 percent of respondents who said it should be a top priority for their state governors and legislators. Another 31 percent called the exchanges an important but lower priority. Support included clear majorities of Republicans and Democrats.

Additionally, 52 percent of respondents supported the second provision, which would expand the Medicaid program for the poor to nearly all Americans earning up to 133 percent of the poverty line, equaling about $24,000 a year for a family of three. But opinions split sharply along party lines.

Kaiser President and Chief Executive Drew Altman said the results depict a contrast between political ideology and tangible benefits in the mind of the public.

"The overall idea of the (law) creates a very mixed public reaction, certainly if you call it 'Obamacare.' But most of the benefits of the (law) are very popular, even on a bipartisan basis," he said. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Jilian Mincer and Dan Grebler)

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Paper Hearts For Newtown Collected By Montana Group To Show Support After Sandy Hook Shooting

BILLINGS, Mont. -- It started as a way for one Montana family to talk about the tragic school shooting of 26 children and adults. Now it's blossoming into an international movement to build a chain of handmade paper hearts to stretch almost across the country.

Gala Thompson and her family's Paper Hearts Across America estimate it would take about 19 million small paper hearts to connect Billings, Mont., to Newtown, Conn. They're hoping to gather that many hearts so they can deliver them to the residents of Newtown and show them there's still good in the world.

"It's gone above and beyond what we hoped, really, from the first day," Thompson said. "I was thinking the first 500 hearts we got, that was great. But now, it's grown on its own."

Thompson told The Associated Press that organizers will send a first shipment of 10,000 hearts – each linked to another and with its own personal message – later this week or early next week. Thirty hearts already have been hand-delivered to the editor of the Newtown Bee, she said Wednesday.

Overwhelmed Newtown officials have asked people to stop sending gifts, but Thompson said Paper Hearts across America is going through the YMCA in neighboring Danbury and should not tax Newtown's strained resources.

The group will then send incremental shipments as the hearts come in, all the while tracking the progress toward the goal of 18,965,000.

That's the number of 6- to 8-inch hearts Thompson's husband calculated it would take to stretch the more than 2,000 miles from Billings to Newtown.

"I feel that this will go through and we will make the 18,965,000," Thompson said.

The project was launched in response to the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. A gunman killed his mother before opening fire at the school, killing 20 children and six adults. He then killed himself.

Word about Paper Hearts Across America has spread through news reports and the group's Facebook page – which contains a template for the hearts – and contributions have come from nearly every state.

People are sending boxes of the hearts to Broadwater Elementary in Billings, which agreed to be a collection point until the group reaches its goal. School officials are hanging the hearts in hallways until they're sent to Connecticut.

"The hearts come in boxes and boxes, and we all just get so excited," Thompson said. "We've been able to cover the whole inside of one of the school buildings and we're moving to the other one now."

Thompson said she wants people to know that it's not just a project for school kids. She wants universities, families, businesses, hospitals and others to get involved.

"Hopefully, Newtown will be flattered by this gesture and about how many people are compassionate and kind," she said. "There's more kindness in the world than there is hate, and that's what this is all about to begin with."

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