Mr President
Let me first of all congratulate you on your election to chair these historic proceedings, our congratulations go also to the other members of the Bureau.
Yesterday, the Honourable Minister of Justice of South Africa made the SADC statement. I obviously support and endorse the statement made on behalf of all the member States of SADC. The position of SADC as stated yesterday is clear and unambiguous - SADC stands for an effective independent court.
Mr. President,
As we are about to enter a new millenium history has thrust upon us the responsibility to establish an International Criminal Court. To achieve this we need to show all the courage we could muster and a global vision. For we are call upon to establish an institution that will ensure that the atrocities of this millenium, in particular of this century, will never be repeated again.
Thanks to the improved media which has turned the world into a global village all the distinguished delegates gathered here, in one form or another witnessed, learned about or became aware of the atrocities committed in some parts of the world.
Mr. President,
We in Namibia when we chased out the heinous apartheid administration of the then South Africa and established a democratic country vowed that the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of Namibians will never again be violated or suppressed. In this respect, in order to bequeath to coming generations a country where human rights and fundamental freedoms are ensured these were entrenched in the Namibian Constitution.
It is a well known fact that the apartheid system represented the most atrocious dehumanizing and oppressive administration ever devised by man. For that reason it was declare a crime against humanity.
With this kind of recent history, it is, therefore, natural for the Government of the Republic of Namibia to support the establishment of an effective and independent International Criminal Court.
Mr. President,
My delegation would wish to urge the distinguished delegates assembled here not to forget the atrocities humanity suffered from despots and dictators this century. Many parts of the world were subjugated under colonialism; the second World War did not only caused untold suffering on the battle fields but as a result the Nazi ideology of superior race resulted in the holocust, where millions of innocent lives perished. The recent reincarnation of the same infamously outrageous ideology in the form of ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Bosnia let to genocide and crimes against humanity. Not long ago we witnessed what the media term killing fields of Pol Pot in Cambodia. We saw equally atrocities committed in Somalia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where even hunger was used as a weapon in the conflicts.
With this kind of historical background we cannot fail, we must ensure that the atrocities I enumerated above do not happen again.
The position of SADC member States has been amply presented by my colleague, the Minister of Justice of South Africa. However, I have only few points to emphasize. The Government of the Republic of Namibia considers that the veto power in the Security Council has outlive its usefulness and is thus now anachronistic which must be abolished. Especially when the International Criminal Court is established which should be an element of peace and security in our contemporary world. It is thus not acceptable to my delegation for the International Criminal Court to be subjected to the political decision of the Security Council. The Court must be completely independent on the same level as the International Court of Justice. It is thus evident that the International Criminal Court must have inherent jurisdiction over the core crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crime in international and non-international armed conflicts and aggression.
However if an appropriate definition could not be agreed upon on aggression, this should not delay the establishment of the International Criminal Court. The Court could have only inherent jurisdiction on three core crimes. This means that a State party accepts the Court’s jurisdiction over those crimes upon ratification of the Statute of the Court. No further State consent should be required for the Court to be seized of the matter.
Equally, for the delegations of the SADC member States the independence of the prosecutor is of great importance to the effective operation of the Court. This means that the prosecutor must be able to initiate investigation and institute prosecutions on his or her own motion without having to seek the consent of the State party concerned.
The only safeguard from abuse of power being that of appropriate judicial scrutiny. If the Court is to be effective in punishing and deterring international crimes the prosecutor must have such ex officio power.
Mr. President,
Finally, and equal as my last point, the International Criminal Court will deal with sovereign independent States. It is thus obvious that the effectiveness of the Court and consequently the credibility of the regime we put in place will depend on the cooperation the Court will receive from the States parties. As I stated in my opening remarks the history of 20th century has been very bleak, let us put up an institution that will make the next century different. With courage and vision we can achieve it.
I thank you.