October 23, 1997

Statement by the Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Mr. Chairman

The delegation of the Netherlands has already taken the floor to make a statement on behalf of the European Union and my delegation fully endorses that statement. As my delegation made clear at the August Prepcom, the new British Government is strongly committed to the early establishment of the International Criminal court. The time for such a Court has come: a fully effective institution is required to bring to justice those accused of the-most serious crimes of international concern. We look forward to a successful Diplomatic Conference in Rome in June/July 1998. Like other delegations, we are grateful to the Italian Government for their generous offer to host the Conference. [...]

Mr. Chairman, it is our belief that if the Diplomatic Conference is to be manageable, real attempts will have to be made to reach negotiated texts in the remaining sessions of the PrepCom, so that only the major issues of

difficulty, of which there are quite a few, are left to be resolved at the Conference. At the remaining sessions we will all have to avoid the temptation to engage in lengthy repetitions of well-known positions: it is time now to produce texts in which square brackets are the exception rather than the rule.

No statement on the establishment of the International Criminal court would be complete without a word of appreciation for the chairman of the Prepcom, Mr. Adriaan Bos. We would like to express our thanks to Mr. Bos for his dedication and sound work in the realisation of this enormous task. Lastly a word of thanks to the non-governmental organisations. We have been assisted in our preparations for the different meetings on the Court by studying carefully the papers produced by several of the NGOs. Their presence at the sessions of the Prepcom has led to many interesting informal exchanges, often lively, often useful. We were glad to have been able to host a meeting with NGOs and invited delegates at the August session on the question of the role of the victim. We believe that focussed informal meetings such as this are particularly useful in enabling all of us to benefit from the expertise of NGOs.

Mr. Chairman, the United Kingdom delegation are confident that by the next session of the Sixth Committee, the Convention on the establishment of the International Criminal Court will be concluded and we shall all be setting in hand the necessary procedures for the ratification process.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.