Terror Attacks Used As Impetus For Court’s Establishment
NEW YORK, September 24, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Beginning today at the United Nations headquarters, the International Criminal Court preparatory commission opened a new session to last until October 5. The representatives of Peru, Poland, Mexico and Switzerland announced this morning to the Preparatory Commission that they hoped to deposit their ratifications shortly. The ratifications would bring the total number of ratifications to 42 of the 60 required for the ICC to be established.
The representative from Turkey called for the ICC to immediately explore a way to include the crime of terrorism in the Statute. Agence France-Presse reported Thursday that Finnish Justice Minister Johannes Koskinen similarly urged that the ICC try terrorists. “For terrorist acts, generally speaking, it would be seen as more neutral and more efficient, than a court in the country where the terrorist acts were committed,” he said. Moreover London’s Independent reports today that international criminal lawyers also think it most suitable for the International Criminal Court to prosecute any suspected terrorists.
See the UN release and the Independent report: https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/l2984.doc.htm https://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95045