October 21, 1997

Statement by the Prof. Paula Escarameia for the Portuguese Delegation.

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Mr. Chairman,

Portugal endorses, naturally, the statement presented by the Netherlands on behalf of the European Union and we would like, at this juncture, to add some further remarks.

My delegation believes that, this being the last time that views will be expressed

in the setting of the 6th Committee before the Rome Conference of June/July 1998, the moment has come for a reflection on the work that has been pursued so far and on the results of such an endeavour.

Three main underlying tensions have been present throughout the entire process and have become more apparent with the remarkable progress so far achieved, them being: a) the tension between universality of membership and effective powers of the Court; b) the tension between specification of rules in the Statute and the need to proceed expeditiously with the work; and c) the tension between the exclusivity of the role of States before the Court versus the involvement of other entities such as the Security Council, the Prosecutor, NGOS, and so on.

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Mr. Chairman,

It is the belief of my delegation that, taking into account the very encouraging results achieved in the substantive work, we should now concentrate our efforts in assuring a complete success at the Rome Conference. Portugal thinks that a time frame of five to seven weeks would be the most desirable for achieving the final completion and the adoption of the Statute of the ICC and that NGOs should be allowed to participate meaningfully in this endeavour on the basis of the rules of procedure of the Conference previously discussed and agreed upon.

We further believe that the spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding will continue to prevail notably because every individual involved in this project knows that the expectations of millions are upon us and that law is still the best instrument our civilization has developed to cope with the abuses of power.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.