Mr. President,
First, may I congratulate you and other Members of the General Committee on your election. On behalf of the Czech delegation I also would like to express my very deep appreciation to the Italian Government for the enormous effort that went into the preparation of the Diplomatic Conference.

Mr. President,

During its six sessions, the Preparatory Committee for the establishment of an International Criminal Court made a significant progress toward a satisfactory Statute of the ICC. We greatly appreciated the excellent performance of Adriaan Bos as Chairman of the Preparatory Committee and the tireless work of the Secretariat. /In connection with this the Czech delegation is very saddened by the absence of Mr. Bos at Rome and on behalf of the Czech delegation I would like to wish him the fast recovery/. I also want to stress the important role of non governmental organizations in the process of the establishment of an international Criminal Court. our common goal -that is, to end the impunity of heinous crimes and atrocities - unified the representatives of individual governments on the Preparatory Committee and I am sure that this fruitful cooperation will continue during the Diplomatic Conference.

Mr. President,

The Czech Republic has always strongly supported the idea of a permanent international criminal court. However, I would like to make it clear that it is not enough to simply bring the institution into existence. The Court must be effective, functioning, independent and thus credible. I am aware that these words are open to a variety of interpretations. Nevertheless, my delegation feels that, to secure a good position for the ICC, the Statute should incorporate certain basic principles.

Primarily, the Court should have inherent jurisdiction over the four core crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression. These are exceptionally serious crimes that concern the international community as a whole and are regarded as crimes under customary international law. In accordance with the principle of universal jurisdiction over crimes under international law no further state consent should be required for the Court to proceed.

As regards the list of crimes, it should be added that war crimes committed in non-international armed conflict must also come under the jurisdiction of the Court.

Mr. President,

The Czech delegation supports the mutually complementing relationship between national criminal jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of the ICC. We stress that complementarity does not diminish the responsibility of states for vigorous investigation and prosecution. of crimes. As for the competence of the ICC, the Czech delegation does not accept the idea that as long as a national justice system investigates or prosecutes a case, the ICC should not be entitled to exercise jurisdiction. This interpretation of the complementarity principle would seriously undermine the effectiveness of the ICC. The ICC must be equipped with a safeguard against sham investigations and trials.

Mr. President,

A question which has several times provoked a heated debate in the Preparatory Committee is the role of the Security Council. The Czech delegation agrees that an act of aggression may not be brought under the Statute unless the Security Council has first determined that a State has committed the act of aggression. On the other hand we cannot support the idea that the Security Council should have the power to preclude proceedings before the Court if a situation is being dealt with by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It must be kept in mind that Chapter VII situations are precisely those in which crimes within the Court's jurisdiction are most likely to be committed. The envisaged role of the Security Council would radically change and, indeed, undermine the independence of the Court.

Mr. President,

 The Czech delegation believes that the Prosecutor of the ICC should be empowered to initiate proceedings before the Court of his or her own accord. An ex officio Prosecutor will mean a more effective Court because the ICC would thus open to various sources, including non-governmental organisations and individuals.

Mr. President,

one of the most important issues in the Statute is the part dealing with rules of international cooperation and judicial assistance. The Czech delegation is of the view that the Statute must strictly oblige all States Parties to comply with any request for assistance issued by the ICC. There should be no exceptions allowed to this fundamental rule, the Statute should contain a provision barring any reservations that would enable States Parties to evade this obligation. This is, in our view, the best way how to ensure equality of obligations and eliminate potential stumbling blocks.

Mr. President,

The Czech delegation believes that with a Statute based on these principles, the court will be an effective institution. However, much remains to be solved. There are too many options, too many brackets in the Draft Statute. We are now facing a difficult task; nevertheless, my delegation hopes that we will be able to complete it in the coming five weeks. We have already reached an important stage in the development of international law. The international community has never been so close to the creation of a permanent international criminal court. If the spirit of cooperation prevails among the delegations, we will be able to bring the international community one step nearer to the rule of law, peace and justice. And this is a chance which we must not throw away.

Thank you, Mr. President.