UN DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE ON AN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Statement by Marino Busdachin

On behalf of the Transnational Radical Party

Rome, 17th June 1998

Mr. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Representatives of International Organizations, citizens.

I am proud to be here today to speak on behalf of the TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY, A NONVIOLENT POLITICAL ORGANIZATION fully committed in support of an effective United Nations, for a real international justice and for the respect of fundamental civil and human rights.

For the last three years the Transnational Radical Party and No Peace Without Justice International Committee have been campaigning promoting the fixation of a date and a place for the diplomatic conference. From Paris to Montevideo, from Atlanta to Dakar through a series of conferences, declarations and appeals endorsed by thousands of parliamentarians, rulers, opinion makers and people from all over the world we have been able to raise public awareness on the issue and influence the decision making process.

From the struggle against starvation in the South of the world, to the campaign for the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the process of the establishment of an ICC has been a long journey for the affirmation of the "droit d'ingérence" for humanitarian reasons began many years ago. We are finally here today for this historic opportunity.

We are aware that the ICC will not be THE solution for all the problems of the world. But we also believe that it will be a powerful tool able to complement politics and diplomacy.

We are all attending this important conference with many great expectations. The biggest of which is the hope that FINALLY justice will never again be separated from peace or sacrificed on the altar of "Realpolitik".

From Auschwitz, to Mathausen, from Katyn to Pol Pot's killing fields we have heard the slogan NEVER AGAIN millions of times as a death bell. This Century has been the bloodiest in the history of mankind with more than 180 million people massacred in some 250 conflicts. 25 of which are going on while we are talking.

We need an ICC. And we need it now. For our human dignity, for our tireless hope for justice, to end this long chain of horrors, genocide, mass starvation, rape and violence of all sorts. We need to end impunity for those responsible for the most heinous crimes, that are at large around the world living their everyday lives in the most peaceful circumstances. We must end all this.

We are outraged, frustrated and angry. Someone would prefer to have a court at any cost, an "alibi" tribunal. But what the world needs is an effective, fair and independent court.

Distinguished delegates, we trust you. We trust you because, before the world public opinion, we believe you will be able to face all the inherent difficulties and the resistance of those who say that the world is not ready for such a court, to resist those who are here to jeopardize the responsible and patient work of hundreds of thousand of individuals and organizations during the last fifty years.

Distinguished delegates, we are waiting for a court that will work and bring to justice war criminals, a court in which the Prosecutor will be able to initiate investigations, in which funds will come from the regular budget of the United Nations, but at the same time an institution independent within the UN system.

We are not expecting THE PERFECT COURT. But an effective one.

A Court that in perspective will establish the principle of a new dimension of national sovereignty AND OVERCOME THE PRINCIPLE OF NON INTERFERENCE. We should PASS FROM the LAW OF THE RULERS TO THE RULE OF LAW, and honor the principle of the right to life and the life of rights.

Merci Monsieur le Président