November 2, 1995

Statement Mr. Joroslav Horak

...The Ad Hoc Committee had before it the task to review major substantive and administrative issues arising out of the draft statute of an international criminal court prepared by the International Law Commission and to consider, in the light of that review, necessary arrangements for the convening of an international conference of plenipotentiaries. The Czech delegation supports the idea of establishing of an international criminal court and recognizes that the progress achieved during the two sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee this year has a special significance for the realization of this idea.

The Ad Hoc Committee has achieved very positive results in fulfilling the mandate entrusted to it by the General Assembly. The Czech delegation subscribes to the conclusions of the Ad Hoc Committee contained in paragraph 257 of the report that the work on the establishment of an international criminal court on the basis of the draft Statute prepared by the International Law Commission should continue. We also believe that the mandate for future work should be changed and extended to the effect that the consideration of remaining issues be organized in a way which would make it possible to complete the substantive discussion and the drafting of a consolidated text of a convention in time for a conference of plenipotentiaries to be convened preferably in 1997. In this connection, we hope that the ongoing consultations on the relevant draft resolution will allow us to achieve a consensus along the lines of the conclusion of the Ad Hoc Committee with a view to preserve the current momentum for the establishment

of an International Criminal Court.