Representatives from more than 100 nations today are expected to finish negotiations that will implement the 1998 Rome Treaty on an International Criminal Court. Though the United States was reluctant to become full partners in the treaty that emerged from extensive talks two years ago, President Clinton should meet the Dec. 31 deadline for supporting what amounts to global justice for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Rome treaty laid out the terms under which a person could be held responsible for these crimes, and despite U.S. objections, was supported by representatives of 120 nations, with seven, including the United States, opposed. Sixty nations must ratify the treaty for it to become effective, which two years ago was expected to take a decade or more. Now, however, with a dozen nations already agreeing to its terms, the ICC may go into effect in just a couple of years.

A primary obstacle to full U.S. commitment to the ICC resides in the person of Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, who has found that protesting U.S. involvement beyond its borders in anything more substantial than an Up With People World Tour cause for alarm and a rich source of political points. Sen. Helms’ American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, which attempts to shield U.S. military personnel and others from prosecution through the ICC would prevent the United States from taking part in any ICC case, no matter how heinous the crime or guilty the person being charged, and would give the president authority to release from the court, by “all means necessary,” any U.S. service member or any ally.

The provision for the unbridled protection of allies especially raises about how the act would be used and what the expectation of its use would be in other countries. It is an over-broad attempt to cure a real but limited problem. There is a legitimate concern that the ICC will give license to hostile nations to target and falsely accuse U.S. troops on peacekeeping missions, which would not only mistreat U.S. soldiers but place peacekeeping generally in doubt. Participants at the Rome conference suggested several ways of addressing this problem, including a suggestion from South Korea that the agreement drop a proposal that would allow a state with custody of a suspect or one in which nationals were victims to initiate ICC jurisdiction. But the U.S. representatives did not agree to any of these proposals and were shocked to see 120 nations proceed without them.

These nations are continuing with the court, and if they continue as they have this week, soon have it in place with the United States having less and less influence over it. President Clinton can change that before the month is out by signing on to the ICC and keeping this country a vital part of international justice.