In his address to the Assembly, Joe Borg, Foreign Minister of Malta, said national governments could not shirk their responsibility for the plight of peoples and that accountability by individuals for their actions must be enforced. The adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court constituted an important milestone in the international community's expression of outrage at shocking, massive violations of human rights. Heinous crimes against humanity were an affront to the intrinsic values of civilization and could not be tolerated, Mr. Borg said. Effective protection of human rights should not be allowed to fall victim to excuses of national sovereignty, even more so since it was only last year that the world commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.