October 30, 1995

"Establishment of an International Criminal Court"

Statement by the Italian Delegate

...As the distinguished representative of Spain stated on behalf of the European Union, we see the International Criminal Court as an independent permanent institution, with the widest possible participation of States, and closely linked to the United Nations. The Court should be complementary to national systems of criminal justice. It is not intended to exclude national jurisdictions, but essentially to provide a forum for trial and punishment of persons accused of crimes of great international concern, when recourse to national jurisdiction may be unavailable or ineffective, These concepts are clearly expressed in the preamble of the draft Statute prepared by the International Law Commission...

(...)Already last year, my Country offered to host the diplomatic conference to adopt the Statute of the Court. Our Foreign Minister, Mrs. Susanna Agneli, has recently reiterated this offer. As a country of long-standing and recognized legal tradition, Italy will be honored and proud to contribute, also in this way, to setting up an effective judicial body to punish crimes that offend the very conscience of humankind, wherever they are committed(...)

(...)We are of the view that this diplomatic conference should take place by 1997. This year's General Assembly resolution should clearly indicate such a time-frame. We believe that this is a reasonable programme, consistent with the urgency of responding to one of the issues most important to today's international society.

In order to meet this objective, we need a precise schedule of work for the next few months. We strongly support the prompt establishment of a Preparatory Committee for the Conference. The Committee should meet for at least six weeks during 1996 and we would prefer, in this regard, that the time allocated to it be divided into three sessions. It is also our view that the parts of the draft Statute to be addressed during each session should be clearly indicated in advance, in order to allow different experts to attend the relevant meetings. The work should concentrate on drafting texts of the articles of the Statute and preparing a consolidated text of a convention on the establishment of an International Criminal Court. The Preparatory Committee should conclude its work during 1996 and report to the next General Assembly on the results of its three sessions.