Annan inaugurates permananent war crimes court
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was today inaugurating the world’s first permanent war crimes court at The Hague in the Netherlands.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was administering oaths to the 18 judges elected by the court’s 89 member states.
It was the first public event for the International Criminal Court, which came into existence last July after 60 countries ratified the 1998 Rome Treaty.
The treaty was signed by the US administration of President Bill Clinton, but was renounced by his successor, George Bush, who feared politically-motivated prosecutions of Americans.
