Mr, Chairman,

As this is the first time that I am taking the floor in this Committee, let me congratulate you and other members of the Bureau of the Sixth Committee on your unanimous election to guide our deliberations.

Mr. Chairman, we participated actively in the process aimed at establishment of the International Criminal Court, from the ad hoc Committee through PREPCOM and, finally, at the Rome Diplomatic Conference, with the goal of realizing a universally acceptable, independent and efficient International Criminal Court which would be viable enough to deal with not only traditional crimes, such as grave crimes of war and genocide, but also the most heinous crimes, such as international terrorism and drug trafficking. Unfortunately, our hopes were belied on several counts, both in the manner of the adoption of the Statute as well as its substantive contents.

Mr. Chairman, we spoke about the Rome process in our statement made in the General Assembly during the general debate on the Report of the Secretary General. In terms of substance, the Statute of the International Criminal Court as adopted fell short of our expectations on several normative issues. To mention only a few here, it failed to include international terrorism in the crimes covered, it failed to provide flexibility in the nature of its jurisdiction and it blurred the distinction between customary law and treaty obligations in respect of the definitions of internal conflicts and crimes against humanity. It also failed to respect, at all stages, the sacrosanct principle of consent of States and the principle of territoriality in exercise of criminal jurisdiction and priority of national criminal jurisdiction over international criminal jurisdiction. What is even worse is that the Statute has legitimized the overstretched interpretation of the powers of the Security Council by subordinating the future Court to the discretion of the P-5 States, It is ironic that the Statute treats offences such as murder as international crimes but refused to treat as international crimes the first use of nuclear weapons, which would result in the annihilation of a great mass of humanity. Given this, we are not sure whether an International Criminal Court founded on such a Statute has prospects of ever becoming truly universal.

Mr. Chairman, the next stage of the process of establishing the International Criminal Court relates to the work of the Preparatory Commission established by Resolution F of the Rome Diplomatic Conference to make proposals for practical arrangements for the establishment and coming into operation of the Court. According to Resolution F, the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court is to prepare proposals on various administrative and financial matters. It is also to prepare, by 30 June 2000, the draft texts of the rules of procedure and evidence and elements of crimes. Further, the Preparatory Commission is to prepare proposals, for submission to the Review Conference, on the definiation and elements of crimes of aggression and the conditions under which the Court shall exercise its jurisdiction with regard to this crime.

Mr. Chairman, international terrorism is the most condemnable form of international crime, threatening the integrity and political and social fabric of states, taking a toll of lives of innocent civilians - men, women and children. International terrorism is a comprehensive and massive violation of fundamental human rights. It entertains no distinctions as to race, religion, or region, does not respect territorial boundaries and is a heinous crime which represents a common challenge to mankind. In view of this, we would like to emphasize that the Preparatory Commission should, on a priority basis, prepare proposals for a provision on terrorism, including the definiation and elements of the crime of terrorism. The Commission should submit such proposals to the Review Conference with a view to arriving at an acceptable provision on the crime of terrorism for inclusion in the Statute.