PREPARATORY COMMITTEE ON ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

BEGINS TWO-WEEK SESSION

1 December 1997

UNITED

NATIONS

Key Topics Include International Cooperation, Judicial Assistance,

Penalties, General Principles of Criminal Law

International cooperation, judicial assistance, penalties and general

principles of criminal law are key topics for discussion by the Preparatory

Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court during its

two-week session which began this morning.

The Chairman of the Committee, Adriaan Bos (Netherlands), outlining the

programme of work for the Committee's fifth session, said it would also take

up procedural questions and definitions of war crimes. The Committee had

before it the International Law Commission's draft statute for the Court. It

would be considering the draft statute's provisions that deal with

penalties, extraditions and obligations of States, among others.

The Chairman said he had been encouraged by the debate on the court in the

General Assembly's Sixth Committee (Legal) and the draft resolution approved

on the subject. The Sixth Committee's work on the topic was making the Rome

conference to adopt a convention on the establishment of an international

criminal court a reality.

By the terms of the Sixth Committee draft resolution, the Rome conference

would be held from 15 June to 17 July 1998. The Preparatory Committee will

hold one more session in March/April next year.

During its current session, the Preparatory Committee is conducting its work

within the framework of two working groups -- on international cooperation

and judicial assistance, and on procedural matters. Following the conclusion

of the opening meeting this morning, the Preparatory Committee began its

working group discussions.

The next meeting of the Preparatory Committee will be held on a date to be

announced.

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