Permanent Mission of Croatia

to the United Nations

Statement

By H.E Ambassador Ivan Simonovic

Permanent representative

Sixth Committee

54th Session United Nations General Assembly

Agenda Item: 158

Establishment of an International Criminal Court

21 October 1999

At the outset, my delegation would like to express its sincere appreciation to Ambassador Phillippe Kirsch, Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, for the report of the deliberations of the Commission.

Since the adoption of the Statute of the ICC at the Rome Conference last year we have been the witnesses of events proving the necessity of the existence of a permanent international criminal court. In the absence of adequate protective mechanisms at the international level, member states have responded by strengthening the concept of individual criminal responsibility and universal jurisdiction when questions of serious breaches of international humanitarian law have been at stake.

Mr Chairman,

The key term that has marked international law in the past year has been individual criminal responsibility. It commenced with the landmark ruling of

the United Kingdom's highest court. Without entering into the merits of the decision in that case, it clearly has important implications for the redefinition of the traditional understanding of the concept of immunity. Doubtless, that decision - and the decision of the ICTY to indict President

Milosevic - shall have far-reaching repercussions upon the conduct of domestic and foreign policy in the future. The principle that nobody, including the highest state officials can be exempted from criminal responsibility is clearly

set out in the ICC Statute. If it was not, international criminal law would be

meaningless.

My delegation also wishes to underline the importance of the emerging principle of universal jurisdiction in the protection of international humanitarian law. As we have said, the yet in which the ICC Statute was adopted was also a

poor one with regard to respect for international humanitarian law. However, there is a developing belief as to an obligation to prevent serious breaches of international humanitarian law, irrespective of the nationality of the offenders. There is a long path ahead of us if we are to achieve the universal application of humanitarian law, but this should be an incentive to proceed

more quickly.

The establishment of the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

represent important steps. However, the very act of their establishment raises the question of selective justice. In this regard their deficiencies are obvious. Accordingly, Croatia welcomes the latest efforts of the international

community to ensure identical standards for the respect of international humanitarian law all over the world until the coming into effect of the ICC. The proposed universality of the ICC is one of its strongest characteristics. Universality shall allow it to operate in a more consistent way towards all

members of the international community, and in accord with the fundamental principle of the sovereign equality of states. In order to attain justice for

all it is necessary to avoid political arbitrariness in matters of law.

Since the ICC is supposed to complement rather than supersede national courts, the latter shall be subjected to continuous scrutiny by the international

community. In this context, we wish to mention that recently in Croatia, a trial related to war crimes committed during World War Two was concluded. This first trial in a country in transition, resulted in a conviction and the imposition of the maximum penalty under Croatian law. The case evidenced that war crimes are not subject to any statute of limitations and that the Croatian judicial system has the capacity to deal with even the most complex and politically-charged cases.

Mr. Chairman,

Croatia has demonstrated in practice its commitment to the idea of a universal criminal court by signing the Statute of the ICC on 12 October 1998.

Although the process of ratification has not yet been concluded, this shall occur in the near future. Since the Croatian constitutional and criminal legislation has already gone through significant changes so that it could adjust to co-operation with the ICTY, there shall be no particular need for new adjustments to the ICC.

In its efforts to achieve the establishment of an efficient ICC, the Croatian delegation has sought to have built into the Rules of Procedure mechanisms

designed to halt obstruction of the Court's work. Therefore, my delegation places particular emphasis upon the development of Rules which shall be clear and unequivocal so as not to leave the opportunity for states to evade the fulfillment of their obligations. The rules need to be elaborated in such a measure which shall limit their frequent amendment and which will assist in the development of consistency and respect for the court.

My delegation also considers it important to built into the Rules the legal standards of due process which are consistent with the world's main legal

systems. Additionally, we consider that in their elaboration, the elements of crimes should not be left so broad as to impede further the conclusion of the preparation of the Rules. Since we still have much work ahead of us in the coming year, we call upon the relevant authorities to make available adequate resources for the Preparatory Commission to continue with its important work.

Finally Mr. Chairman, I wish to emphasize that Croatia shall be following the

deliberations of the working group on the definition of the term aggression aware of the fact that its outcome shall impact upon the efforts of the

international community to ensure, preserve and maintain international peace and security. My delegation attaches particular importance to this issue, given that Croatia was recently a victim of aggression itself.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.