Press Briefing on Focus 2004 Treaty Event

 

Some 30 countries had performed 87 actions –- accessions, ratifications or signatures -– at the Focus 2004 event on treaties relating to the protection of civilians, the Chief of the United Nations Treaty Section told correspondents at a Headquarters briefing today.

Palitha Kohona added that the number of nations taking part could reach 32 or 33 by the end of the day, and actions climb to 95.  The event, entitled Focus 2004:  Treaties on the Protection of Civilians, was being held to give individual Member States an opportunity to commit themselves to treaties underpinning the protection of civilians worldwide.

He noted that three nations –- Burundi, Guyana and Liberia –- had ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, while two –- Liechtenstein and Slovenia -- had performed actions on the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the Court.  The total number of parties to the Rome Statute was now 97.

Some 13 nations, including Slovakia, Paraguay, Liberia, Austria, Lesotho, Kenya and Libya, had performed nine ratifications and four accessions to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000) and its related Protocols, he continued, bringing the total number of parties to the Convention to 92.

In addition, he said, the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child -- against the involvement of children in armed conflict and against child pornography –- received six ratifications, two accessions and two signatures, by Bahrain, Madagascar, Liberia, Slovenia, and Republic of Korea.

Liberia had performed the highest number of actions on treaties, performing 18 in a single afternoon, Mr. Kohona said, followed by Paraguay (9), Madagascar (6), Lesotho(6), and Sri Lanka (5).  Libya carried out four actions on the Protocols to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, while Mali and Lesotho performed actions relating to the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others and its final Protocol.

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