Permanent Mission of Trinidad and Tobago

to the United Nations

Statement

By Gaile A. Ramoutar

Representative of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

On behalf of Member States of the Caribbean Community

Sixth Committee

54th Session United Nations General Assembly

Agenda Item: 158

Establishment of an International Criminal Court

22 October 1999

Mr. Chairman.

I have the honour to make this statement on behalf of the fourteen member States of CARICOM that are members of the United Nations: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas,

Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and my own country, Trinidad and Tobago.

We are grateful to the Chairman of the Preparatory Commission, Ambassador Philippe Kirsch, for his introduction of the reports of the Preparatory Commission at the beginning of our consideration of this agenda item.

Mr. Chairman, when we look back over the past years, we see the great strides made by the international community in its effort to put in place a permanent international institution to bring to justice individuals responsible for the most heinous crimes that shock the conscience of mankind.

After many years of effort and negotiations, the international community adopted the Rome Statute of the international Criminal Court. CARICOM States note that the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court has already had two meetings in an effort to prepare proposals for practical arrangements for

the establishment and coming into operation of the Court. We welcome the broad participation by the international community in the work of the Preparatory Commission and the constructive manner in which the Preparatory Commission proceeded during its first two sessions. We note that substantial progress has

been made and that the important work on the definition of the crime of aggression will be conducted at the next session of the Preparatory Commission in a Working Group which was established for this purpose.

CARICOM noted that the intersessional work of the international on victims' access to the Court held in Paris in April of this year, and the workshop held in Siracusa in June of this year on the Rules of Procedure and Evidence assisted in advancing the work of the Preparatory Commission.

Mr. Chairman, permit me to make a few observations on some aspects of the work of the Preparatory Commission. We note the efforts made to adhere to existing

principles and norms of international law and commend the co-ordinators of the working group for their efforts in this regard. It is important that the

integrity of the Statute be preserved throughout the deliberations by the Preparatory Commission.

Mr. Chairman, in March of this year, legal experts from ten member states of CARICOM met at an Intergovernmental Regional Caribbean Conference for the Signature and Ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, held in Port of Spain. At the Conference, the question of implementing

legislation and ratification procedures were discussed. In the Port of Spain Declaration, they declared their commitment to work to ensure the integrity of the Statute and to pursue the process of ratification of the Rome Statute by their respective States within the shortest possible time. CARICCOM member states are in the process of studying the Statute and thus far, Antigua and

Barbuda, Haiti and Saint Lucia have signed the Statute, and Trinidad and Tobago has ratified. We are aware that internal parliamentary procedures for signature or ratification are lengthy in many cases, but these are underway in several member states. We look forward to ratification by a sufficient number of States to ensure entry into force of the Statute early in the new millennium. We encourage those States which have not yet signed the Statute, and those which are yet to ratify the Statute, to take every step do so as early as

possible.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.