A key American official involved in war crimes policy told a Harvard Law School audience last night that there are a lot of obstacles in the way of bringing war criminals to justice.

David Scheffer, Ambassador at Large to United States war crimes policy and head of the U.S. delegation to the International Criminal Court negotiations, spoke at the Harvard Law School late last night.

The discussion, which was entitiled "Challenges to U.S. Policy on Atrocities: The International Criminal Court and War Crime Prosecutions," was sponsored by the law school's International Law Society.

Ambassador Scheffer described his office of war crimes policy as "atrocities central," and a department accustomed to grimness.

Scheffer said the challenges faced by the war crimes office included the ongoing tension between peace and justice, the desire of governments to avoid outside interference in their affairs and the absence of a permanent international criminal court.

A final challenge to the functioning of the Office of War Crimes was the character of modern warfare, which is more precise and organized than ever before, but leaves governments much more vulnerable to criticism in the event of human error.

While there is a lot of enthusiasm for a permanent international criminal court, Scheffer focused heavily on the need to regulate criminal activity in the present, in addition to working to create such a court.

There are plenty of current cases to deal with, Scheffer said, citing such examples as the 1980's activities of Sadaam Hussein and the ongoing conflict in Chechnya.

And should a permanent international criminal court be established, it would not be retroactive, so it would not have jurisdiction over past crimes.

As Scheffer's presentation drew to a close he brought up the subject of humanitarian intervention and the necessity of preventing war-related atrocities.

"We try as best we can, " he said, "to get a handle on these atrocities before they occur."