Jamaica may have to bow to US pressure and limit its international obligations as a member of the International Criminal Court – putting its economic self-interest above lofty ideals, according to professor of international law at the University of the West Indies, Stephen Vasciannie.

Although Jamaica has signed a treaty to join the ICC, it has yet to ratify its membership. Doing so would be the right thing to do, but it could put the island under “serious pressure” from the US, said Vasciannie. He was among a panel of experts who on Tuesday evening addressed 80 people, mostly students, at the UWI’s Norman Manley Law School on the ICC issue.

Jamaican officials also met Wednesday, at the Jamaica Conference Centre, to discuss the ICC’s ramifications for Jamaica.

Modelled on tribunals operating in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the ICC would be based in Hague, Netherlands. It would have jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed after July 1, 2002.

Vasciannie noted that the US vigorously objects to some aspects of the treaty and is, as a consequence, attempting to limit the treaty’s authority over its own citizens. The US argument is that its citizens – and especially peacekeeping troops – would be subject to malicious and politically motivated prosecutions by the ICC.

The US has prevailed upon UN members – including Jamaica – to sign “Article 98” agreements which, it contends, are consistent with the ICC. Signatories of Article 98 would agree not to extradite, to the Hague, US citizens who are accused of crimes by the ICC. To date more than 60 countries have signed the agreement.

Vasciannie said Jamaica could easily find itself involved in ICC-related issues if, for example, the ICC ordered it to extradite people involved in war crimes, genocide or other such crimes who were visiting or living on the island.

In the Caribbean, the US’s position on Article 98 has proved divisive and contentious.

Last July, the US cut military assistance to Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. They had ratified membership in the ICC, but refused to sign Article 98.

The US’s threat to cut military aid could be especially problematic for Jamaica, Vasciannie said, because of the broad definition the US gives to what constitutes military aid, which could even include aid for the island’s police.

The ICC, Vasciannie said, “is the kind of thing we should ratify, but we have to consider the consequences of our ratification,” and that may include the possibility of agreeing to Article 98.

Ken Pantry, Jamaica’s director of public prosecutions, told the gathering that he, too, was “a little concerned by Article 98”.