November 2, 1995

Statement by Mr. T. A. Samodra Sriwidjaja

...We are all in agreement that our deliberations have focussed on new areas of international criminal law and merits careful study. Many of these fundamental issues need to be adequately addressed to achieve the required consensus among States to render the court as an effective mechanism. Moreover, it is important to afford all countries the opportunity to participate in discussions leading to the establishment of an international criminal court.

In this context, my delegation is of the view that it would be premature to set a time-frame for the future work on this topic and as regards the convening of an international conference before resolving several contentious issues. Though we have a challenging path ahead, my delegation remains confident of achieving the required consensus. We should therefore collectively exert determined efforts towards the establishment of a permanent institution to server the interests of the entire international community, in prosecuting and convicting perpetrators of heinous international crimes. Indonesia, on its part is committee to the attainment of this goal.