The Committee of the Whole of the United Nations Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court this afternoon adopted reports of its Drafting Committee, subject to final action on some pending articles of the Court's draft Statute.
In another action, the Committee of the Whole adopted the report of the Working Group on Penalties.
First adopted by the Committee was the report of the Drafting Committee on Part 9 of the draft Statute (document C.1/L.68/Rev.2) -- International Cooperation and Judicial Matters, which was introduced by its Chairman, Cherif Bassiouni (Egypt). Lebanon indicated it was reserving its position with respect to the text.
The Committee next took up the report on Part 7 -- Penalties -- contained in document C.1/L.84. The relevant article 75, applicable penalties, has no provision on the death penalty. It states that the Court, subject to a provision in the draft Statute on pardon, parole and commutation of sentence (article 100), may impose imprisonment for a specified number of years, which may not exceed a maximum of 30, or a term of life imprisonment .
The representative of Norway, who chaired negotiations on the subject, drew attention to a footnote which reflected concerns some delegations had with the application of the death penalty.
The representative of Singapore said the decision not to include the death penalty would not in any way affect the sovereign rights of States to determine the appropriate legal measures and penalties to combat serious crimes effectively, and that included the right to impose the death penalty in accordance with international safeguards. Similar sentiments were expressed by the representatives of Trinidad and Tobago, which originally sponsored a text, on behalf of a group of countries, group of countries, on the inclusion of the death penalty in the Statute: Ethiopia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iraq.
The Committee of the Whole also adopted the Drafting Committee report on Part 8 of the draft Statute (A/CONF.2183/C.1/L.85) -- Appeal and Revision, as well as the provision of sub-paragraph 2 of Part 11 on Assembly of States (document A/CONF.183./C.1/L.66/Add.1), which had been deferred yesterday.
In addition, they adopted a report dealing with the Final Act
of the Conference (document A/CONF.183/C.1/L.83), which among other things,
briefly traces the history of the process of
establishing the Court. The Final Act is to include the text
of the draft Statute and the texts of other documents adopted at the Conference.
The recommendations of the coordinator on financing of the Court (C.1/L.78),
which had been referred to the Drafting Committee this morning, was also
adopted. The representative of Azerbaijan expressed reservation about
voluntary contributions.
Other reports adopted by the Committee this afternoon relate to final clauses, the definition of the crime of genocide, enforcement, investigation and prosecution, the trial and the preamble to the Statute. The Chairman of the Drafting Committee said that if delegations believed what the preamble contained, they should complete the treaty establishing the Court.
The Committee of the Whole will next meet at 6 p.m. tomorrow, 17 July,
to act on the remaining reports of the Drafting Committee.