International Criminal Court

Assembly of States Parties

First Session (Resumed)

12^th Meeting (AM)

STATES PARTIES TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CONCLUDE SESSION

WITH ADOPTION OF DRAFT REPORT

The Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court completed its work this morning by adopting the draft report, as orally amended, for its current resumed session.  The Court, inaugurated on
11 March at The Hague, Netherlands, is expected to be functional by the end of 2003.

The States parties to the treaty creating the International Criminal Court, which entered into force in July 2002, held their first session from
3 to 10 September that year.  Two resumed sessions followed.  The first, held from 3 to 7 February 2003, was devoted to the election of the Court’s 18 judges.
The second resumed session, which opened on 21 April and concluded today, was dedicated to the election of the Court’s first Prosecutor, as well as the election of most of the members of the Committee on Budget and Finance. 

Assembly President Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein of Jordan told delegates today that the Assembly had made critical decisions to make the Court a reality.  With the judges already in office, the Office of the Prosecutor was another important pillar in the Court’s overall structure.  In its responsibility to receive referrals and substantiated information on crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction, it would be the first to set in motion the criminal justice processes that had been carefully elaborated in the Rome Statute.  The Assembly had acted to facilitate the election of the Registrar by the judges.  Soon all the organs of the Court would be fully functional.

On the Court’s budget, he said the Assembly had also elected members to the important Committee on Budget and Finance.  He hoped the Eastern European States would soon nominate candidates to the Committee.  A timely election would allow the Assembly, at its second session in September, to adopt a budget for the next financial year.  The engagement of States parties in budgetary preparation was important, as was the need to pay assessed contributions on time.  He urged States to include budget experts in delegations for the September session, to ensure that the Assembly approved a budget that met the Court’s needs.   

The inspiring statements made yesterday by the Court’s first-ever Prosecutor and President marked yet another moment in a series of remarkable achievements in the Assembly’s quest to hold accountable those that committed crimes that shocked the conscience of humankind, he said.  The challenges ahead were daunting and the institution building of the Court was just beginning.  Creating an international

judicial institution from scratch was not an easy task, and the coming months would be critical.

Introducing the draft report (document ICC-ASP/1/3/L.5), Assembly Rapporteur Alexander Marschik of Austria said the report contained two chapters.  The first included information on the two resumed sessions.  The second provided information on each of the agenda items for the two resumed sessions.  In particular, it included paragraphs on the credentials of representatives of States parties, the election of judges and the Prosecutor, and a proposal on meetings of the special working group on the crime of aggression.  Other matters included the appointment of the External Auditor, the election of the Registrar and the Committee on Budget and Finance, and the opening of the nomination period for the Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for the benefit of victims of crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction. 

Also this morning, the Assembly adopted a draft resolution proposed by the Bureau on the election of the Court’s Registrar (document ICC-ASP/1/12).  By its terms, the Assembly recommended that the judges proceed to elect the Registrar on the basis of the list submitted by the presidency in accordance with rule 12 of the rules of procedure and evidence.

The Assembly also decided to defer, until its second session, the consideration of a draft resolution on the recognition of the coordinating and facilitating role of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

In other action, the Assembly accepted the credentials of the representatives of Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines -– two States that had become parties to the Statute since the Assembly’s February session -- on the understanding that they would submit formal credentials as soon as possible.  By doing so, the Assembly decided to dispense with the convening of the Credentials Committee in favour of direct action by the Assembly. 

The Assembly of States Parties is next scheduled to meet in September.

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