Mr.President,

It is a great honour for me to join those delegations who have preceded me in extending our felicitations on your assumption of the Presidency of the Conference. I am confident that your leadership and wisdom will guide our deliberations to a successful conclusion. I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Government of Italy for hosting this historic conference. We also wish Ambassador Adriaan Bos a quick recovery.

Pakistan supports the establishment of the court which is independent and effective and which enjoys universal acceptance. However, we must also ensure that, while the court should enjoy full independence in the exercise of its functions, it should complement and not supplant the national legal systems. We consequently support the principle of complementarity which is derived from the concept of sovereignty of States and, therefore, of fundamental nature. This principle should ensure that the International Criminal Court shall exercise jurisdictions only if the national trial procedures are either not available or are ineffective- This is necessary to preserve national sovereignty and to avoid situations of conflict between the jurisdiction of the court and the jurisdiction of the States. Pakistan, consequently favours the principle that the exercise of jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court should be based on the consent of the States concerned. This principle of complementarity should not be eroded if we want a statute which enjoys universal acceptance.

Mr. President subject to the principle of complementarity we would like the court to be impartial and independent from political influence of any kind. We are, therefore, not favourably inclined to giving any role to any organ of the United Nations, in particular the Security Council, in the functioning of the court. The Security Council is primarily a political body and its decisions are based more on political considerationsrather than legal principles. If any role is given to the Security Council it could cloud the objectivity and independence of the ICC which is not conducive to the development of a uniform, non-discriminatory and impartial international criminal justice system.

Closely connected with the principle of complementarity, is the trigger mechanism. Pakistan favours the principle that the trigger mechanism should be activated by the State concerned which alone is in a position to determine whether it has the competence to try the offender itself or refer the case to the ICC if it determines that the national jurisdiction would fail to render justice.

We agree that the statute should include the most heinous crimes of international concern and therefore, support the concept that the jurisdiction of the court should be limited only to the hard core crimes namely, crimes of genocide; serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts and crimes against humanity. However, some of these crimes need further consideration and their scope clearly defined.

Mr. President, it is essential, keeping in view the universal character of the court, that the statute we adopt should be adhered to by the maximum number of States. It is also necessary that the stature needs to be ratified by a reasonably high number of States so as to reflect the universal character of the court. This would be possible if the statute is adopted by consensus. This would be the best method for the adoption of the Statute as it would facilitate both universal adherence as well as its early entry into force-

Thank you Mr. President.