Permanent Mission of Czech Republic

to the United Nations

Statement

By Mr. Jiri Malenovsky

Director-General for Legal and Consular Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Sixth Committee

54th Session United Nations General Assembly

Agenda Item: 158

Establishment of an International Criminal Court

21 October 1999

Mr. Chairman,

Since my delegation is taking the floor for the first time in the current session of the Sixth Committee, let me start with congratulating you and other members of the Bureau on your elections. We also express our thanks to Mr. Philippe Kirsch, Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, for his excellent efforts in handling the two Preparatory Commission meetings held in February and August this year. Our thanks go also to the other members of the Bureau for their contribution in this respect.

Mr. Chairman, The Czech Republic has aligned itself with the Statement of the European Union, therefore, at this stage I would like to add only a few words expressing our view on the latest development of the process of the establishment of the ICC.

In July 1998, after years of preparatory work and five weeks of negotiations in Rome, 120 states voted to approve the Statute of the International Criminal Court. The adoption of the Rome Statute has been a long awaited moment and it no doubt constitutes a breaktrough in terms of international law. One year after the Rome achievement we can still be optimistic. 88 states signed the Statute and 4 states even ratified it. On the other hand, as we all know, this is not the end of the road. The Statute will remain a dead letter until at least 60 states have ratified the Treaty and until other necessary instruments, namely the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and the Elements of Crimes have not been completed. My delegation would also like to underline the importance of having the Court as universal as possible. States which have not still joined the idea of the lCC must not be excluded from the process of its establishment and we should try help these states in getting over their fears. As pointedly expressed ye

sterday by the representative of Japan, we should not consider anybody as a kind of outsider.

June 30, 2000, by which the work on the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and the Elements of the Crimes must be finished, is a new challenge, another significant step which we must make before we reach our common goal. In this connection, the Czech Republic is very pleased by the progress being made in the Working Groups on Elements of Crimes and Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

Mr. Chairman, As regards the Elements of Crimes, the Preparatory Commission mainly concentrated on the elements of war crimes. From legal point of view, war crimes represent the most difficult part of the jurisdiction of the Court. Their definition in the Statute is elaborated in great detail and therefore also the creation of sentencing guidelines with respect to this category of crimes is a very difficult assignment. In spite of the fact the progress on the elements of war crimes is worth noting. Despite some points on which the discussion still continues, the wording of the elements, in principle, is shaping up. The Czech delegation is also satisfied that the wording of the elements abides by the definitions of war crimes, as contained in the Rome Statute and that these guidelines for judges do not add new elements which could extend or reduce the jurisdiction of the future Court.

In this connection, my delegation would also like to express its gratitude to the ICRC for elaboration of high quality expert studies on war crimes. Their work significantly contributed to the success of the previous two sessions of the Preparatory Commission.

Mr. Chairman, A significant progress was also made as regards the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. My delegation appreciates the constructive atmosphere in which delegations focused their efforts on search for consensus and finalization of texts of individual rules.

The Czech delegation notes with satisfaction that the procedural part of the Rome Statute and the Rules Procedure and Evidence do not focus only on the traditional principles of fair trial, but also try to do justice for victims of crimes. This is, in our view, what will make the ICC significantly different from its predecessors.

In this regard the Czech delegation would like to express its gratitude to all participating experts of the international seminar on victim's access to the ICC which took place in Paris at the end of April. The results of this seminar, as contained in this report, became a valuable source of inspiration for the Commission at its August deliberations on this issue.

Mr. Chairman, The Commission has still a difficult task before it since there is still a number of issues where more or less serious differences of positions exist among delegations. However, the Czech delegation believes that the work on problems which have not yet been resolved may be succesfully completed during next sessions of the Commission before 30 June, 2000. There is not much time left, but the remaining time should suffice, if the Commission continues its work with the same commitment and discipline as so far.

Mr. Chairman, In conclusion, allow me to touch briefly upon the ratification process in the Czech Republic.

At present, my country has been dealing with the evaluation of implications of the Rome Statute upon our domestic law and preparation of relevant legislative measures necessary for the implemenation of the Treaty in the Czech Republic. The creation of such legal norms is a very complex manner which does not relate solely to criminal law but makes us deal with some provisions of our Constitution too (which is, by the way, reviewed also for other reasons at this time). Despite the difficulty of this task the Czech Republic is prepared to live up to its reputation, as one of so called like-minded states, and at this stage I can promise that all our responsible organs will do their best in order to put the Czech Republic on the list of States Parties of the Rome Statute as soon as possible.

Thank