We reproduce here the letter of the British Minister of State, Mr Douglas Hogg, which describes the British position on the establishment of an International Criminal Court.

22 November 1994

To: Ms E. Bonino & Mr O. Dupuis

Radical Party

Centre de Coordination de Bruxelles

97 Rue Belliard

1040 Brussels

From: Foreign & Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

Minister of State

Thank you for your letter of 13 October to Douglas Hurd concerning the creation of an International Criminal Court. I am replying as the Minister responsible for this issue.

I understand that you spoke earlier this month to our Ambassador in Rome on the subject. As you know, we support the work of the International Law Commission to consider the terms of a statute for an International Criminal Court. We believe the revised draft statute is of high technical quality.

The UN General Assembly is now considering the next steps. We support further preparatory work on the establishment of a permanent international court. We believe it is important that intensive work is undertaken to consider the technical, financial and legal aspects of the court and to assess the degree of international consensus, before a decision is taken on whether to convene a conference for the adoption of a convention to establish a permanent international criminal court.

Douglas Hogg