Susan Markham, the Spokesperson for the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, told reporters on Thursday that Philip Kirsch of Canada, the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, would be coming to the briefing shortly. She apologized for having changed the time of the briefing, but said it had been necessary in order to accommodate Mr. Kirsch's schedule.
Ms. Markham said there were now 157 countries attending the Conference. She drew correspondents' attention to the fact that all material was being posted on the Conference website (www.un.org\icc), which was updated two to three times each day. Last week, there had been some 50,000 hits on the website, and more were expected this week. Among the materials available were United Nations press releases and radio reports in English and French; photographs, speeches by delegations, and Conference documents. "I hope you'll use it -- it's actually really interesting."
Ms. Markham noted that this morning, 26 speakers had addressed the plenary. Scheduled to speak this afternoon were representatives of 18 Member States, three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Organization of African Unity. Each day, the list of speakers was available in the documents area.
Reviewing today's schedule of press conferences, Ms. Markham noted that the Foreign Minister of Italy had briefed the press this morning, and that the Belgian Foreign Minister would brief Belgian journalists at 3 pm. At 4:30 pm, there would be a press conference by the Foreign Minister of France, and at 5 pm, by the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands.
Continuing with the schedule, Ms. Markham said that in addition to the plenary, the Committee of the Whole had met this morning. It would meet again this afternoon at 3 pm, as would the working group. This morning, the Committee had referred part III of the draft statute to the working group.
Would the plenary meet next week? Ms. Markham replied that the plenary would finish its work on Thursday, but it might run late that night. So far, there were 140 countries which had indicated that they wished to address the plenary, and with 157 now attending the Conference, the list remained open. After Thursday, the plenary would stop meeting in order to allow the committees to meet from Friday onwards. The plenary would reconvene at the end of the Conference.
Ms. Markham was then asked if the Russian Federation was on the list to speak, and if not, why not. She said there had been a number of changes in the list of speakers, and it appeared that Russia was scheduled to speak tomorrow. That information would be clarified later this afternoon.
Asked if South African President Nelson Mandela would be attending the Conference during his stay in Rome, Ms. Markham said that she heard he was in the area but not that he would be coming to the Conference. Reporters would be informed if President Mandela would attend. South Africa, she noted, had spoken on the first day of the Conference.
Mr. Kirsch began by pointing out that he could only speak in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, and could not comment as Canada's representative. As such, he would not speak about the merits of various positions or the degree of support they might or might not enjoy.
He said the Rome Conference was certainly one of the most complex legal meetings since the conclusion of the Law of the Sea Conference in 1982. This could be seen clearly in the issues discussed over the past two days, including what crimes would fall under the court's jurisdiction; whether it would have automatic jurisdiction or would require the consent of States to act; what role the Security Council would play and how it would relate to the court; and whether the prosecutor would be able to launch independent investigations. "There are a series of issues on which States are really divided," he said.
The work of the Conference was also complex because it would involve reconciling the legal systems of some 180 countries, he continued. That was a difficult task, because some concepts were known to some legal systems and not to others. As a result, every technical part of the draft statute had to be considered in detail.
Because of this complexity, the Conference held meetings in plenary to hear the positions of all States, and then convened its Committee of the Whole, which would be seized with the major issues, and would provide policy guidance to working groups and the drafting committee.
In the Committee of the Whole, he went on, discussion on legal issues had begun. This morning, the question of how to include crimes against humanity in the draft statute had been taken up, and war crimes would be dealt with next. All this was being done with a view to promoting general agreement. Mr. Kirsch expressed his personal desire to achieve the goal of general agreement, noting that while he had no control over political will, he could control how the discussions would be conducted, and he would work to make them as transparent as possible. In particular, he would ensure the participation of NGOs in the Committee's work. States would have ample time to clarify their positions.
In response to a question, he said that the issue of the seat of the court enjoyed general agreement, but noted that the plenary would have a final say in the matter. "If there had been problems, we would have known," he added. [The Netherlands has offered to host the court.]
Mr. Kirsch was asked if much unresolved language would be referred to informal working groups, and if so, whether NGOs would have access to those discussions. He replied that the Committee of the Whole would discuss all important issues -- as opposed to technical ones -- at least once. The NGOs were attending meetings of the Committee of the Whole, so they would have no problems there. He said it was possible for the NGOs to participate in the working groups, but that would have to be decided by each group in question; there was no blanket rule on the matter.
A correspondent asked what would happen if a significant number of brackets [indicating contentious language] remained in the text at the end of the Conference. Mr. Kirsch said he would try to conduct the discussions based on the existing draft statute. Once all issues had been discussed, he would aim to move towards the preparation of "rolling texts" that would be presented by various people conducting negotiations, so as to lift the brackets.