Mr. President,
It is with great pleasure and with great hopes that I participate in this United Nations Conference for the establishment of an International Criminal Court. Allow me, first of all, to thank the Italian Government for their hospitality in this magnificent and historic city of Rome, which has witnessed the creation of Roman law in which so many of our legal systems found their roots. We are sure that this inspiring environment will provide us with the appropriate frame of mind which we all need in order to find the proper solutions to the questions which remain open and the compromises which will permit us to proceed to the realization of our project. In this task we ' feel reassured by the assumption of the Presidency by you, for which we most warmly congratulate you as well as by the fact that all the officers of the Conference are persons of high quality and great experience. We extend our congratulations to them, too.
History of mankind is a long road to progress and development but at the same time a road full of violence, wars, atrocities and dark moments. The answer to the question whether human beings are by nature noble and generous or violent and brutal does not solve the problem of the immense suffering and misfortune caused by warfare and acts of violence. What we all agree is that these practices should end and that we should protect the innocent and defenceless and punish those who carry violence. This is a responsibility we have recognised to ourselves in view of the next generations and in view of our human and social environment.
Efforts to contain acts of violence or inhuman conduct have always been tried in the past. In Ancient Greece we read in Thucydides of the Athenean generals who fought in the naval battle of Arginousae during the Peloponnesian War and defeated their Spartan opponents. When they returned to Athens, although victorious, they were prosecuted and condemned to death because they neglected to collect the dead and the wounded from the battlefield despite the fact that the rough sea and the storm prevented them to carry out this duty.
Our century has seen a tremendous progress in science and technology but at the same time it has witnessed the most brutal conflicts, genocides and acts of violence producing immense misery and misfortune to millions of people. The two world wars have created the need for the establishment of effective mechanisms and the necessary means to impose peace and security and guarantee stability, justice, progress and the respect of human rights.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Humanitarian law, Human Rights, International Penal Law have during the past decades made considerable progress and have enlarged their scope of competence. Nevertheless it is equally true that since the Second World War, the world has experienced over 250 war conflicts which resulted to more than 130 million victims. The tragedies of Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cyprus and so many others during the recent years create the imperative need for more action against acts of violence and human suffering. For 50 years the establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court has been debated and discussed. Finally the International Community has taken the historical decision to establish such a Court which we believe would make the world safer, more just and more peaceful.
The opening of borders and the globalisation of our societies after the end of the cold war, has created a new world balance with new and great expectations. We believe that we should seize the new opportunities and move ahead to create a world in which human beings would live in a more dignified and safe way.
Mr. President,
The creation of an international criminal court has been consistently and firmly supported by Greece. Our interest does not only stem from our shared concern for the commission of grave crimes in various parts of the world and from our conviction that such crimes should in no way remain unpunished. It also stems from our own bitter experience of such crimes being committed against our people in recent history. It would have been different had such a court existed at the time. In the future we hope, however, that the Court will also act as a deterrent powerful enough to prevent the commission of similar crimes.
Democracy and respect for the rule of law should be our shared values and the basis for the political, social and economic life in our societies. Likewise, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, are matters of direct and legitimate concern to our societies. These principles are also the cornerstone for further development of our societies and a basic component of peace and stability in our world.
States as well as individuals should be accountable to each other for complying with the above principles. In the light of the above we consider the establishment of an International Criminal Court a matter of utmost importance. Such a permanent Court should be a guarantee for more objectivity and not for a selective approach to criminal acts.
Mr. President.
The Distinguished Representative of the United Kingdom, made on Monday a statement on behalf of the European Union which we fully share. We would like, however, to make some additional comments of our own, regarding certain specific aspects of the question to which we attach particular importance.
The work of the Preparatory Committee has been successfully completed, providing us with a draft containing a wide array of options which display different visions of how this Court should operate. Our own vision is one of a Court which would be truly independent and completely unhindered from bringing to justice the perpetrators of crimes so grave as to concern the international community. No one can doubt that genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression constitute, indeed, such crimes. Let me say, concerning aggression, that Greece cannot envisage the possibility of its noninclusion in the list of crimes which will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Court. It would indeed, be unthinkable if more than fifty years after the second world war where aggression was penalized as an international crime and more than fifty years since the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations, the world of today, still witnessing, still suffering from the phenomenon of aggression, chose to ignore it and let its perpetrators go unpunished.
Concerning war crimes, let me emphasize the importance we attach to certain categories of such crimes, among which is the crime of the establishment of settlers in occupied territories and related crimes as well as to the crime of directing attacks to buildings dedicated to religion, education, the arts and sciences and most particularly, to historic monuments. We have repeatedly witnessed the commission of these crimes which hit hard at a nation's and a people's very existence and identity.
Another important matter is the attribution to the Prosecutor of the power to initiate investigations ex officio. This, we consider, would secure that no grave crimes would be left uninvestigated and, ultimately, unpunished in case of lack of interest by states to seize the Court or for any other reason.
Lastly, the relationship with the Security Council is one which needs very careful consideration and refined balancing. Although the powers of the Security Council according to the U.N. Charter cannot be put to question, conversely the Court should in no way be hindered from or influenced in the exercise of its own jurisdiction and powers.
Greece is committed to the respect of international law and firmly believes in the need to strictly adhere to its rules and principles. The deliberate violation of the most basic of these rules and principles should constitute an international crime, which must always activate the international reaction, the form and content of which, as far as the criminal responsibility of persons is concerned, should be determined by the International Criminal Court which we are in the process of establishing. The Court should thus be able to judge those responsible for such crimes, with full respect for the norms of international law and the applicable criminal law. It should also pronounce and execute the appropriate sentences in accordance with its statute.
The Greek delegation is ready, Mr. President, to work together with all states present here to find the solutions which would serve this purpose. This is a task which, we believe, cannot but be beneficial not only to the whole of the international community but also to each and every individual living in it. A more just world would be a better world for all.
We are all convinced of the historic opportunity. Let us all work together, take the responsibility and create the conditions for a more peaceful and just world.
Thank you, Mr. President