Mr. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Representatives of International Organizations, fellow colleagues from Non-governmental Organizations, representatives of the media and public. It is my great honor to serve as Convenor of the NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court - a global network of civil society organizations spanning all regions of the world and sectors of civil society - including human rights, humanitarian,women's, international law, children's, victims, religious, peace - more than 800 organizations working at the local, national, regional and international level for the establishment of a just, fair, effective and independent permanent International Criminal Court.

Mr. President and Distinguished Delegates. The whole world is watching. As the Secretary General so eloquently stated in opening this historic conference: "Our own century has seen the invention and use of weapons of mass destruction, and the use of industrial technology to dispose of million upon million of human lives. Gradually the world has come to realize that relying on each State or army to punish its own transgressors is not enough. When crimes are committed on such a scale, we know that the State lacks either the power or the will to stop them. Too, often, indeed, they are part of a systematic State policy, and the worst criminals may be found at the pinnacle of State power. "

Mr. President and Distinguished Delegates, according to experts we are talking about 110,000,000 war-related deaths in the 20th Century. We are talking about tens of millions more deaths and "disappearances" in internal conflicts. We are talking about hundreds and thousands of millions of victims. Since World War II the overwhelming majority of casualties in armed conflict are innocent civilians, children and women. The question before us in this conference is whether, fifty years after the adoption of international conventions outlawing genocide and crimes against peace and humanity, the world will establish a permanent tribunal capable of ensuring that national governments or the International Criminal Court will bring to justice those who commit these most heinous violations of international law and universal moral principles.

Mr. President and Distinguished Delegates, in this room exists the diplomatic expertise and leadership capable of concluding an effective, independent and just ICC. The NGO Coalition knows from the last three years of negotiations that there is a majority of nations at this conference willing to adopt a strong statute. But, in this room are governments not yet ready to accept mandatory national and international enforcement of violations of international humanitarian law.

The issue is whether the majority of nations will galvanize the political will to resist those nations not ready for this court, who will attempt to block the adoption of a strong treaty, or who will attempt to crcate a weak and powerless court which would be subject to the control or veto of the most powerful nations, or which would require the consent of the nations whose leaders, as the Secretary-General acknowledged, are often the ones who have committed these crimes. Such a court, described by a major world leader of a country which should know as an "alibi" court , is unacceptable to global civil society, to NGOs.
 
Coalition organizations which are members of the Steering Committee have agreed to a statement of Basic Principles for an Independent, Effective and Fair International Criminal Court which lists eleven essential principles which in no way are intended to limit the espousal or advocacy of other specific principles as determined by the mandate of each member organization, but which include the following principles:

Attached Principles Paper

Mr. President and Distinauished Delegates. Will we replace the centuries old rule of impunity with the rule of just law? Will we establish an ICC, which will be the last major international organization created in the 20th Century, which has been the bloodiest and most war-ridden in all history? Will the ICC be a final war-related victim of the 20th Century, or a major advance in. replacing the rule of force with the rule of law in the 21st Century'?

What does it mean to call this treaty conference historic and monumental in its significance? One measure is this; if we succeed it means the establishment of a court which will prevent the slaughter, rape, murder of millions of people during the next century. This is an awful and awesome responsibility. We cannot fail! On behalf of global civil society and the NGOs present, we offer our commitment to working tirelessly with the governments and international organizations here assembled in achieving a great and historic result in pursuit of the greatest of all goals, the establishment of peace on earth.

Thank you.