STATEMENT BY MR LIONEL YEE WOON CHIN, DEPUTY HEAD OF DELEGATION OF SINGAPORE 

Thank you, Mr President.

I would like first to join other delegations  before me in expressing the gratitude of my delegation to the Government and the people of Italy, and especially the city of Rome, for their kind hospitality and the excellent arrangements for this conference. It seems fitting that Rome, which can claim parentage of so many modem legal systems and legal principles, has been chosen as the venue for this historic meeting.
the venue for this meeting.

     We would also like to congratulate Professor Giovanni Conso and the other office bearers of the Conference on their respective elections. My delegation looks forward to working under your guidance towards success in our endeavours.

     This Conference marks the culmination of more than three years of hard work first by the Ad Hoc Committee and then the Preparatory Committee under the able chairmanship of Mr Adrian Bos of the Netherlands. I therefore wish to place on record the gratitude of my delegation to him and to the Government of the Netherlands for his considerable contributions.

    Mr President,

     Those of us who have been involved in the preparatory process are well aware of the amount of work which needs to be done and the issues which need to be resolved in this Conference.  A fairly cursory glance at the draft Statute which we have before us bears that out. It is therefore essential, in the view of my delegation, that as we proceed with our work, we should always keep in focus the objectives of this exercise.

     First, we must create a Court which dispenses justice in accordance with the highest legal standards and consequently can command the credibility and moral authority which are essential to its effective functioning. Particular care must be taken to ensure that while those who perpetrate crimes of grave concern to the international community are brought to justice, fundamental norms of due process, such as respect for the rights of the accused and the establishment of guilt according to strict evidential standards, must be upheld.

     The universal legal principle of nullum crimen sine lege must also apply in defining precisely what conduct entails criminal responsibility. Individuals must be able to ascertain clearly the consequences of their actions rather than await a determination of their criminal liability with hindsight because of vague or open-ended definitions. The Court must be endowed with the flexibility to contribute to the progressive development of legal principles but we need to distinguish this from the power to create offences.

     Second, we must be realistic about what we want to establish. The International Criminal Court cannot be a European or Inter-American Court of Human Rights writ large both in terms of its geographical reach and its criminal jurisdiction over individuals. Many regions are still a long way from establishing such institutions. This exercise should instead be seen as giving tangible recognition to the fact that there are some acts so universally abhorred by the international community that their perpetrators should not escape punishment, either by national criminal justice systems or, in their absence or failure to act, by an international judicial body.

     We should also bear in mind that the Court will not have its own enforcement agencies and its effectiveness depends upon the full cooperation of states parties. We must therefore build an institution which enjoys as universal a participation of states as possible.

     In order to do so, we will have to take into account the diversity of interests of the various regions, their different stages of development, the different social and cultural traditions and the positions of the major powers. It will not always be easy to come up with a broad consensus on solutions for the many issues at hand. But the mere papering over of differences will not meet the interests of those of us who seek to build an effective, working institution and not simply a showpiece devoid of any meaningful role.

    Mr President,

     We have come very far in realising the dream of creating a permanent international criminal tribunal  and let us not forget that it is a dream which we have had for at least half a century. But keeping our objectives in focus and a dose of hard-headed realism will be what are needed to take us to the finishing line.

    Thank you, Mr President.