Oct. 31, 1996

Statement by H.E. Ambassador I.E. Ayewah

Mr. Chairman,

[...] The results achieved during the 1996 proceedings of the PREPCOM give my delegation a ray of hope that desire of the international community to create the ICC which had eluded it for such a long time, would now be realized, in a not too distant future. Nigeria is fully committed to the ideals of a permanent International Criminal Court and the need to punish the perpetrators of serious international crimes.

[...] GA resolution 50/46 mandated the PREPCOM to draft texts. There has been no negotiation of texts during the deliberations. Therefore we consider the fixing of dates for the conference at this stage as being too early. Like many other delegations we are of the view that the dates of the conference should be closely linked to the progress in the work of the PREPCOM. In principle, we have no difficulty with holding a diplomatic conference on the date suggested if sufficient work is done in the nine weeks of the PREPCOM and a draft consolidated text is adopted.