The plenary concluded yesterday after four days of hearing general statements from more than 150 speakers.

The statements showed that although there is broad agreement on the need to have a Court that is independent, effective, impartial and efficient, divergent views were expressed, particularly concerning the relationship between the Court and the Security Council and the power of the prosecutor to initiate investigations.

Mr. Hans Corell, Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference, in addressing the plenary at its close, said that attacks against United Nations personnel should be among the crimes falling within the Court's jurisdiction. He also raised the issue of United Nations staff providing evidence to the Court, saying that the nature, scope and modalities of how oral testimony and documents would be provided by UN staff to the Court would have to be worked out.

Today the Committee of the Whole, the Working Group and the Drafting Committee all met, the latter for the first time. The Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Mr. Cherif Bassiouni, briefed the press on the work of his Committee (for details see "Briefing by Spokesperson" for19 June under "Press Conferences"). The Committee of the Whole continued discussion of the Court's jurisdiction (Part 2 of the draft statute). It decided to defer until Monday consideration of the report of the Working Group on General Principles of Criminal Law (Part 3).