AG, ROBINSON HIT BACK AT US

Given the pivotal  role that former President Arthur N R Robinson played in the establishment of the International Criminal Court, Attorney General Glenda Morean said Trinidad and Tobago has no option but to go the way it is going- and not support the United States demand for immunity for its citizens  from the International Criminal Court. Trinidad and Tobago’s Karl Hudson Phillip is a judge of the court. She was responding to the decision to the US to suspend aid to 35 countries including Trinidad and Tobago because of their refusal to give US citizens immunity from the tribunal. Asked whether her advice to the Government would be to stand firm on its issue and not give in to US coercion, Morean said : “Well we haven’t discussed it. But I can say what our position has been (on this issue). And I don’t think this (the sanctions) would make a difference to what our position is”.

Former President Robinson condemned the move, saying it was obviously a campaign against the system of universal criminal justice. He described the US decision as a cause which was destructive to all humanity. It was astonishing for a great democracy and was contrary to the stand taken by the US in the past, when Nazi War criminals were tried for crimes. Robinson said Caricom should not be afraid. “My advice to Caricom is “unity, unity, unity. It is the only response to an attitude of this kind from big countries toward small countries. Robinson said the only people who would be happy with the US decision are the drug lords. Morean said that while she was not entirely shocked at the US decision, it still was “somewhat” of a surprise. Asked how she felt about a country using its might- albeit monetary-to force countries to acquiesce to its demands, Morean asked: “Is that something new, as far as the United States is concerned?” She said she couldn’t say what were the full implications- economic and political- of the decision. “But we will have to look at it, assess the situation and determine how we move, she said.