French offer compromise in ICC dispute

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- France launched another compromise proposal Thursday in the U.N. Security Council's impasse over the U.S. insistence that peacekeeping troops be given immunity from the International Criminal Court.

But the proposal, while satisfying court supporters, was deemed a non-starter by U.S. officials, who said they have bent as far as they can on the issue.

"We have no more wiggle room; we've gone about as far as we can on this," one U.S. official said.

The French proposal would have the International Criminal Court, the first permanent war crimes court, "notify the Security Council before commencing or proceeding with any investigations or prosecutions."

The latest U.S. draft resolution on the court, likely to be voted on Friday, calls for a bar on "any investigations or prosecutions involving current or former officials or personnel" from any state, such as the United States, which is not a party to the treaty that set up the court.

Under the U.S. proposal, the request for exception from court prosecution would have to be renewed every year.

Court supporters criticized the U.S. proposal, saying a blanket one-year immunity would change the intent of the statute that set up the court. The French proposal gets around that problem by having the Security Council decide on a case-by-case basis.

The French proposal was deemed acceptable to court supporters. Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch's expert on the International Criminal Court, called the French concept "an appropriate solution" that does not alter the treaty that set up the court.

The court is not expected to be up and running until next year but could take up any cases that arise after July 1.