The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established on July 17, 1998 when 120 countries adopted the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the ICC. The Rome Statute entered into force on July 1, 2002. The Rome Statute includes Article 98, which states:
Article 98(2) Cooperation with respect to waiver of immunity and consent to surrender :
The Court may not proceed with a request for surrender which would require the requested State to act inconsistently with its obligations under international agreements pursuant to which the consent of a sending State is required to surrender a person of that State to the Court, unless the Court can first obtain the cooperation of the sending State for the giving of consent for the surrender.
The international agreements mentioned in Article 98(2) of the Rome Statute are referred to by several terms, including Article 98 agreements, bilateral immunity agreements (BIAs),impunity agreements, and bilateral non-surrender agreements. Starting in 2002, the United States began negotiating these agreements with individual countries, and has concluded at least one hundred such agreements. Countries that sign these agreements with the United States agree not to surrender Americans to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
Researchers are often interested in whether an immunity agreement exists between the U.S. and another country. This guide lists those Article 98 agreements mentioned in Treaties in Force, on Thomas.gov, and any additional agreements posted to the most recent edition of Treaty Actions. The full-text of the agreements was gathered from the U.S. Department of State's "Reporting International Agreements to Congress under Case Act" website. They are listed below by country and all documents are in pdf format.
Revised December 2009 (MMS)