SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO ROME, 18-20 JULY

Press Release
SG/T/2146

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO ROME, 18-20 JULY

The Secretary-General interrupted his Latin American tour to attend the final meeting of the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court in Rome, Italy. He arrived in Rome on Saturday, 18 July, and attended the ceremony commemorating the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court at the Campidoglio, the City Hall of Rome.

The Mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli, started the ceremony by making a statement. He was then followed by the Secretary-General, who praised the decision to create the Court. He said that by adopting the Statute, participants in the Conference had overcome many legal and political problems, which had kept this question on the United Nations agenda almost throughout the Organization's history. "No doubt, many of us would have liked a Court vested with even more far-reaching powers, but that should not lead us to minimize the breakthrough you have achieved", he added. (Press Release SG/SM/6643.)

Other speakers at the ceremony included the President of the Conference, Giovanni Conso (Italy); the Chairman of its Committee of the Whole, Philippe Kirsch (Canada); the Chairman of its Drafting Committee, Cherif Bassiouni (Egypt) and the Italian Foreign Minister, Lamberto Dini.

The Secretary-General handed to Mr. Dini the Final Act of the Conference as well as the Court's Statute. The Italian Foreign Minister signed the Statute on behalf of his country and invited other Member States to do the same. During the ceremony, 13 countries signed the Statute.

The signing ceremony was followed by a press conference and a reception hosted by the Italian Foreign Minister and the Mayor of Rome at the Gardens of the Campidoglio.

The Secretary-General left Rome for Guatemala City, Guatemala, in the early hours of 20 July.

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