International Criminal Court

Assembly of States Parties

First Session (Resumed)

6^th Meeting (AM)

ASSEMBLY OF STATES PARTIES TO ROME STATUTE OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

OPENS RESUMED FIRST SESSION

Session President Says Activities

Proceeding Smoothly to Ensure Early, Effective Establishment of Court

The resumed first session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) this morning adopted its provisional agenda and its programme of work for the week’s session and decided on a number of organizational matters.

At the opening of the session, a minute of silence was observed in memory of all those who had lost their lives during recent tragic events in the world, including the Columbia space shuttle disaster.

In opening remarks, the President of the first resumed session of the Assembly of States Parties, Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein (Jordan), said States parties’ continuing commitment and determination would be required for the ICC to become fully functional and operational in the coming months.  Activities to ensure early and effective establishment of the Court were proceeding smoothly.

The 76 States parties of the September session of the Assembly had been joined by Colombia, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Samoa, Malawi, Djibouti, Republic of Korea, Zambia, Malta and Albania.  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Albania had deposited their instruments of consent to be bound in December and should soon be parties to the Statute.  He hoped this year many more States would join.

He said this week the Assembly would hold elections of judges and the Prosecutor of the Court.  At the close of the deadline for submission of candidates, 30 November 2002, a sufficient number of nominations for election of judges had been received.  However, no nomination had been received for the post of Prosecutor at the close of the extended period (8 December 2002).  The Bureau intended to submit a proposal for the Assembly’s consideration this week and remained positive that electing a Prosecutor by consensus was under active consideration.  That should signal a determination to consult widely in order to identify a suitable candidate for the important post.

The Assembly decided to elect Malta, endorsed by the Western European and Other States Group, as a member of the Bureau, since Germany wished to relinquish its seat.

The Assembly further decided that, for the purposes of electing judges,   all candidates elected should be considered as having been elected at the same meeting, irrespective of whether or not the ballot continues for one or more days.

Regarding the term of office of elected judges, the Assembly decided that the term of office would begin to run from 11 March, the date of the inaugural meeting, following the date of the election.  The term of office of a judge elected to replace a judge whose term of office had not expired would run from the date of election for the remainder of that term.

The Assembly invited the Special Court of Sierra Leone to participate as an observer, without the right to vote.

The President reiterated his appeal to States parties to refrain from entering into reciprocal arrangements for exchange of support in respect of the election in order to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.

The first session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was held at Headquarters from 3 to 10 September 2002.

The Assembly will meet again tomorrow, Tuesday, at 10 a.m. to elect judges to the International Criminal Court.

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