Rescinding the signature of an international treaty: the United States and the rome statute establishing the international criminal court

The international communiry's efforts to create a global permanent penal court culminated in the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court of 1998. Although the United States of America initially signed it, it later withdrew the signature thus signalling its very strong opposition to it. This article attempts, on the one hand, to examine and analyze the US opposition from the standpoint of international relations and diplomatic law and, on the other, to determine its legaliry in the context of the law of treaties.