Note to Correspondents

CEREMONY MARKING EXPECTED ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

TO BE HELD AT 9:30 A.M., 11 APRIL

On 11 April 2002, at a ceremony in Conference Room 3 at 9:30 a.m., the required instruments of ratification for the entry into force of the Rome Statute to establish the International Criminal Court will be formally lodged by the ratifying States.  Hans Corell, the Legal Counsel, will accept them on behalf of the Secretary-General.

The International Criminal Court will be the first permanent international criminal tribunal ever established to bring to justice individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Following the ceremony, at 10:45 a.m., there will be a press conference, via video link, with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the President of Italy.  Participating in New York will be Mr. Corell, the Legal Counsel; Ambassador Philippe Kirsch (Canada), Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court; Ambassador Dirk Jan van den Berg of the Netherlands, the host country for the Court; Bill Pace, Convenor of the Coalition for an International Criminal Court; and Vahida Nainer, of the Women’s Caucus on Gender Justice and the Coalition for an International Criminal Court. 

The Rome Statute is expected to enter into force on 1 July 2002.  Sixty ratifications are required for the Statute, adopted in July 1998, to do so.  As of

9 April, the Statute had received 139 signatures and 56 ratifications or accessions.  It is expected that, on the morning of 11 April, seven or more countries will deposit the instruments of ratification required for the Statute to enter into force.  It will do so, according to the Statute, on July 2002, the first day of the first month 60 days following the deposit of the required ratifications. 

Both events will be web cast live at www.un.org/icc, and will be archived immediately afterward at the same URL.

Representatives of the news media will be able to cover the treaty event.  A limited number of seats reserved for print media are available on a first-come first-served basis in the balcony of Conference Room 3.  Photographers and TV crews wanting access to the room must be escorted.  Please contact the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit for details (see below).

                                    - 2 -             Note No. 5725

                                                      9 April 2002

For both the treaty event and the press conference, UNTV will provide a pool audio and video feed for interested broadcasters.  Contact Jim Ludlam for details at telephone 1-212-963-7650.

For media accreditation, please send a letter of assignment to the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, fax no. (212) 963-4642, and confirm receipt by telephone at (212) 963-6934 or 7164.  Credentials can be picked up at the United Nations Pass Office at 46^th Street and First Avenue. 

For further information, please contact the Department of Public Information, (212) 963-0499, e-mail, mediainfo@un.org.

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