October 30, 1995

Statement by Mr. Phakiso Mochochoko

...My delegation believes that the international community will continue to suffer as long as there is no way to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice. Human rights abuses will prosper for as long as the prospects of arrest, trial and punishment are remote. While we realize that the road ahead of us may seem long, now is the time to begin the long walk to the establishment of an international criminal court. While we realize that there may be problems, they are not insurmountable.

We can together make real progress towards establishing the court by beginning to work on a draft text of a convention for an international court with a view to convening an international conference of plenipotentiaries to adopt such a text by 1997. This will be a first step towards creating a situation wherein the charter of the United Nations and the universal declaration of human rights will become part of the body of law on which the world's political and social order will be based.