October 31, 1995

Statement by H.E. Ambassador Dr. Eduardo J.B. Koloma

...Mr. Chairman, in the view of my delegation, there is an absolute need for seeking consensus or at least a broad understanding on those questions, before taking a decision on the convening of an international conference of plenipotentiaries to conclude a convention on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court.

Therefore, as to the course that the work on the establishment of an international criminal court should take, we fully concur with the conclusions reached by the Ad-Hoc Committee contained in paragraphs 255 and 259 of the report.

In fact, we agree that further work has to be done with a view to preparing a consolidated text of a convention for the establishment of an international criminal court as a next step towards its consideration by a conference of plenipotentiaries. The Ad-Hoc Committee proposes that the mandate for future work be changed to that effect; recommends that the General Assembly take up the organization for future work, with a view to its early completion; and encourages participation by the largest number of states in future work. We completely endorse this proposal, recommendation and encouragement of the Ad-Hoc Committee.

The Ad-Hoc Committee, however, remained silent in its conclusions about who should carry out the work which still needs to be done, whether the International Law Commission, the current Ad-Hoc Committee or a new Ad-Hoc Committed to be established by the General Assembly.

My delegation is of the view that the International Law Commission, which produced the current text of the Statute for the International Criminal Court, is in the best position to produce a consolidated version out of it. Should, however, by any valid reason be impossible to entrust the International Law Commission with this task, then the new mandate should be committed to the current Ad-Hoc Committee. This is our view, but, of course, we are ready to go along with the consensus that will likely emerge from our deliberation on this issue...

...Some members of the Ad-Hoc Committee believed in the possibility of speeding up the work, with a view to convening the conference in 1997.