INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT NOT LIMITED TO WAR-TIME OFFENSES

ROME, July 2 (LSN) – A key debate among participants in the United Nations Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (ICC) has been when the ICC should be involved in a country’s affairs.  The media has reported erroneously that the ICC is being proposed only to deal with crimes committed during times of international conflict. However, some countries are arguing for much broader application for the ICC.  Ireland, Greece, Gabon, Libya, Nepal and the Netherlands are arguing for the ICC to have jurisdiction over acts of aggression within countries, over and above war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Mary Wallace, Ireland’s Minister of State, Department of Justice, Equality, and Law Reform,  said, “Ireland would support the Court having jurisdiction over the crime of aggression The Court’s jurisdiction should be complementary to that of domestic courts, and it should be able to act when national courts are unwilling or genuinely unable to prosecute.”  Yannos Kranidiotis, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, told the conference participants, “Greece cannot envisage the possibility of non-inclusion of aggression in the list of crimes subject to the jurisdiction of the Court… The attribution to the prosecutor of the power to initiate investigations ex officio would insure that no grave crimes would be left uninvestigated and, ultimately, unpunished in case of lack of interest by States.”  Siddha Raj Ojha, Minister for Law and Justice of Nepal told the conference that the court “should be endowed with the necessary power to prosecute individuals in war or peace-time.”  Yesterday, deliberations centered on penalties for those convicted of crimes by the ICC. Although many countries have spoken out against the death penalty, it is still being considered by the conference.  Length of imprisonment was also debated, with most parties agreeing that sentences should be in the range of 20-40 years.  Regular UN press updates on the conference are available at:  https://www.un.org/icc/pressrel/pressrel.htm