Criticism swells over US opposition of world war crimes court

Criticism mounted over US opposition to the world war crimes court, mandated to try the gravest of atrocities and crimes against humanity, on the day the court officially opened in The Hague.

European Union allies of the US were quick Monday to condemn a US decision to veto the renewal of the UN police force in Bosnia if its soldiers were not exempt from prosecution by the court on the eve of the tribunal's launch.

The world's first permanent international war crimes tribunal, The International Criminal Court, opened for business Monday as four members of an advance team opened a temporary office to receive and register complaints on the outskirts of The Hague.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the creation of the ICC, supported now by 74 states, "an historic occasion."

"It holds the promise of a world in which the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are prosecuted when individual states are unable or unwilling to bring them to justice," Annan said in New York on Sunday.