PRESS CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

At a Headquarters press conference this morning, the European Union Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner, Emma Bonino, appealed for the establishment of a permanent international criminal court. She was joined by the President of Trinidad and Tobago, Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robertson, and by the Minister of Justice of Senegal, Jacques Baudin.

Ms. Bonino said that the group at the press conference was part of a broader delegation that included non-governmental organizations and parliamentarians worldwide. Members of the delegation were scheduled to meet this morning with the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko, and later today with Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The purpose of the meetings was to present the signed appeals that had been collected from around the world in support of the establishment of a permanent criminal court.

(The fifth session of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court -- charged by a General Assembly resolution (50/46) with the task of drafting a text of a convention for an international criminal court -- opened today at Headquarters and will conclude Friday, 12 December.)

Ms. Bonino said that delegation members had lobbied parliamentarians, politicians, and public opinion and, for the second year, the General Assembly was expected to confirm the convening of the United Nations conference of plenipotentiaries in Rome from 15 June to 17 July 1998. That meeting was the result of a lengthy campaign and she hoped that the participants would be in a position to "finally" create "a fair and effective criminal court". The campaign had been marked by several conferences -- in Malta, Paris and Brussels -- with the next conference scheduled for February in Dakar, Senegal.

All efforts were being made to have an effective criminal court by June, she added. The appeal had been published today in some major newspapers. She strongly believed that impunity must be stopped, since it was one of the major causes of humanitarian crises worldwide. Although some major political problems remained in the work of the Preparatory Committee, the combination of public opinion and institutional efforts would hopefully result in the court's establishment.

President Robertson said that the appeal represented a "very broad spectrum" of world opinion. On board were parliamentarians from more than 60 countries, as well as a whole range of non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and individuals. The appeal harnessed global sentiment on a matter involving atrocious crimes. Those crimes were routinely viewed by children and their families via television in their living rooms.

The appeal focused not only on the world's conscience, but "on the will of the international community to do something about it, and to do something about it this century", he continued. It focused attention on efforts not only in this century, but next year's diplomatic conference in Rome. He sought to mobilize as much opinion as possible in support of the court's establishment. Further, he wanted to bring to the attention of the decision makers that they had a tremendous trust and responsibility to discharge at the conference. Asked which countries had voiced strong opposition to the court's establishment, Ms. Bonino said it was no secret that during the work of the Preparatory Committee some Member States -- China, for example -- had voiced resistance to the idea. Other countries were in favour of the court, but still had some major political problems that needed to be settled. Even within the European Union, which was generally very much in favour of the court, France, for instance, had certain problems. It was also no secret that the United States was claiming it had some major problems, namely the relationship between the Security Council and the court. It was possible that the problem could be solved at the conference in June. Despite such concerns, Ms. Bonino said that the idea of a permanent court was gaining momentum. It became more and more difficult for Member States that resisted it to "say no". She hoped that in the next six months of campaigning, more and more Member States would "come on board". A correspondent, highlighting another unresolved issue, asked whether the European Union had any idea how the court should be financed. Ms. Bonino said that the financing aspect was one of the issues to be debated in the Preparatory Committee. The general consensus was not to have the court fall under the normal United Nations budget, but to finance it through a trust fund. The financing shortage had been one of the major obstructions to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, set up in 1993. The financing issue must be settled, she said. Asked whether there were additional offers besides the one made by the Netherlands to host the court in The Hague, Ms. Bonino said that not to her knowledge. To a further question about the timing of the court's convening, Ms. Bonino said that time would tell whether the forthcoming diplomatic conference in Rome would result in signatures by Member States. Ratification procedures would then follow. Optimistically, a permanent court would not be in place until early in 2002 or 2003. President Robertson said that he agreed with that assessment, adding that it could never be anticipated how long the ratification stage would take. It was, therefore, necessary to continue to mobilize and express opinion, so that the decision makers did not escape their responsibility. It was very important that the convention be approved next year. Following approval and given the situations in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia and others that might possibly occur, there would be more pressure to implement the court.

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