International Criminal Court - an excerpt from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's 1st annual progress report on the implementation of the Milliennium Declaration (31 July 2002).

[ICC] UN Millennium Report on ICC

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• Aleksandra.Miletic@unmibh.org

  To:letilica33@yahoo.com

  Oct 25, 2002 at 6:42 PM

  
  

  ---------------------- Forwarded by Aleksandra Miletic/UNMIBH on 25/10/2002

  16:02 ---------------------------

  
  

  
  

  Shantha Rau <cicc4@iccnow.org> on 24/10/2002 22:27:45

  
  

  To:  ICC-info <icc-info@yahoogroups.com>

  cc:

  
  

  Subject:  [ICC] UN Millennium Report on ICC

  
  

  
  

  Dear All,

  
  

  Below is an excerpt from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's 1st annual

  progress report on the implementation of the Milliennium Declaration

  (31 July 2002).

  
  

  In the paragraphs below (82-82), the Secretary General provides a

  brief overview of the progress and challenges in the establishment of

  the ICC.  The full text is available at:

  http://daccess-ods.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/506/69/PDF/N0250669.pdf?OpenElement

  
  

  
  

  Thank you to Victoria Clarke for bringing this to our attention.

  
  

  Regards,

  Shantha

  
  

  General Assembly                  United Nations A/57/270

  31 July 2002

  
  

  Fifty-seventh session

  Item 44 of the provisional agenda*

  Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit

  
  

  Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration

  Report of the Secretary-General**

  ?

  
  

  V. Human rights, democracy and good governance

  
  

  82. There have been advances and setbacks in the global protection of

  human rights over the past two years. Achievements include holding

  perpetrators of egregious human rights abuses accountable, including

  two former heads of State. Progress in the protection of human

  rights, however, has been compromised by violations of the rights of

  refugees and internally displaced persons, by a series of horrendous

  terrorist attacks, and by the spread of discriminatory laws and

  practices.

  
  

  83. An important achievement in the past year has been the entry into

  force of the Statute of the International Criminal Court on 1 July

  2002. It is the first permanent court capable of investigating and

  bringing to justice individuals who commit genocide, war crimes and

  crimes against humanity. Although the jurisdiction of the Court is

  not  retroactive, the establishment of the Court provides a permanent

  forum for accountability for the gravest human rights abuses that

  occur after 1 July 2002.

  
  

  84. The Court will only exercise jurisdiction when national courts

  are unable or unwilling to do so. The Court neither removes the

  responsibility of States for holding human rights abusers

  accountable, nor does it undermine their ability to do so. What it

  does do is provide international recourse when States fail to

  prosecute and punish war crimes and crimes against humanity. As at

  July 2002, 75 Member States have ratified the Rome Statute but 6

  significant countries with a combined population of 3 billion have

  neither signed nor ratified it. It is important that they do so as

  early as possible, since the  universality of the Court is critical

  to its long-term effectiveness. The recent debate about the

  jurisdiction of the Court in hypothetical cases involving the

  personnel of non-parties to the Statute employed in peacekeeping

  operations established or organized by the United Nations appeared

  for a moment to confront the Security Council with a stark

  choice between international accountability and the viability of

  peacekeeping operations. In the end, a solution was found which

  preserves both, and which has helped to clarify the complementarity

  of the Court with national courts. The underlying clash of principles

  remains unresolved, however, and may well resurface in the future.

  --

        =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

      Ms. Shantha Rau

      Information Services Coordinator

      NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court

  
  

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