Permanent Mission of Norway

to the United Nations

Statement

By Mr. Rolf Einar Fife

Deputy Director General

Sixth Committee

54th Session United Nations General Assembly

Agenda Item: 158

Establishment of an International Criminal Court

New York 20 October 1999

Mr. Chairman,

The adoption in Rome last year of the Statute establishing an International Criminal Court was truly a historic achievement.

The existence of a permanent, global institution of this kind will significantly enhance deterrence against the most heinous international crimes. It will

significantly reduce the reaction time of the international community as compared to establishing new ad hoc Tribunals.

In our view, the Statute provides for an independent, effective and credible Court, while at the same time allowing for as broad a basis of support to the Court as possible. The significant contributions from all regions, legal systems and cultures to the negotiation process both before and during the Rome Conference have laid the foundation for this universal institution. This is, in our view, even more the case than for any of the Statutes of earlier international criminal tribunals. Furthermore, on a wide-ranging number of issues this Statute provides for the first time for satisfactory written rules of international law, enhancing substantially legal predictability and certainty.

Norway has consistently been supportive of measures which would prevent the Court from being used as a tool for political purposes. In our view the Statute provides for credible protection against biased or arbitrary prosecutions. It also provides for important procedural safeguards, including for the protection of sensitive military or other sources.

It is important to recognise that, through the principle of complementarity with national jurisdictions this Court will be a safety net in cases where national investigations and prosecutions are not genuinely carried out. The existence of the Court should therefore be a powerful incentive for States to do the work themselves. In our view, the Statute provides for a credible, but also a responsible institution.

Mr. Chairman,

Notwithstanding the euphoria experienced at the end of the Rome Conference, a number of challenges must yet be overcome. The first leg of this race was successfully accomplished within the framework of the Conference on the 17th of July last year. The next step - namely the adoption of Rules of Procedure and Evidence and Elements of Crime - must be completed by June of next year. The Preparatory Commission has made substantial progress in its two first sessions. The discussions have contributed to a firmer grasp of a number of principles and rules, and thereby enhanced legal predictability. Nonetheless a lot of work still remains to be done both on the Rules and the Elements. It is important that adequate resources are provided in order for the Commission to carry out its programme of work.

It is our hope that the positive spirit of the two first sessions of the Preparatory Commission this year will prevail throughout the remaining sessions, and enable the Commission to fulfill its mandate in time. In this connection, it is important to ensure that the necessary focus be given in a sustained way to the issues that need to be settled before this dead-line.

Our final goal however - the actual establishment of the Court - rests entirely on a sufficient number of States ratifying the Statute. All efforts must at this stage be directed at activating domestic procedures with regard to signature and ratification of the Statute. Since last year additional states have signed the Statute and four states have ratified it. Norway is well underway with preparations aiming at parliamentary approval of ratification.

Mr. Chairman,

The fact that we have come this far is truly remarkable. Our common efforts must be directed at sustaining our preparations both at an international and at a

national level in order to create this institution and make it work. Now, we must mobilise the "Rome spirit" and rise again to the challenges confronting us in order to ensure an early establishment of the Court.

It is an expression of the Norwegian Government's commitment to this project and our emphasis on the truly historic significance of this work for the strengthening of protection in armed conflict that early ratification of the Rome statute will be the major pledge of the Norwegian Government at the forthcoming 27th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.