Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates,

This Diplomatic Conference marks the final stage in a process that began in the wake of the second world war to institute a permanent International Criminal Court: it has been a long and gruelling path, fraught with so many lost opportunities and marred by tragedies that have affected the whole of humanity.
Rome is about to be the venue for a new step forward towards the acknowledgement of the respect due to human dignity and its effective protection, as it was in 1950 when the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was signed here.
Italy has long stood by those wishing to codify new rules for international coexistence and guarantee compliance with them through appropriate instruments. For Italy, which is honoured to be hosting so many distinguished delegations, the establishment of an International Criminal Court is a top priority. We believe that we can contribute to it drawing on Italy's centuries-old juridical tradition, her campaigns on civil issues, and her public opinion which is expecting a reaction to the many intolerable violations of human rights, and the horror and hardship we have been witnessing - too often as onlookers - in recent years.
Violence, grievous misdeeds and harassment perpetrated against individuals and whole peoples are stirring the conscience of our societies: they stand as a warning to us all. Fresh outbreaks of criminal deeds which we believed to belong to a distant past are making it all the more urgently necessary to institute an International Criminal Court.
What our consciences, and common sense, demand is that we should put in place instruments that will be able to prevent and mete out punishment for the most outrageous crimes against international law, so that even when all the essential values are swept aside by war, the duties demanded by human solidarity are not ignored, so that we make it utterly clear to all that even in war, conduct is subject to rules and penalties.
Leaving crimes against humanity unpunished would signify the failure of the great efforts that have been deployed since 1948 to translate solemn international declarations of principle into provisions of international criminal law. Ever since that time, the proliferation of so many Conventions and declarations of rights has stood in sinister and dramatic contrast to the proven inability to protect and safeguard the primary and most elementary right of all: the right of every human being to life and security. It is not enough for the international community to reach agreement on the conduct constituting international criminal offences. An authority is also necessary to prosecute them. The only way to prevent the likelihood of collective repression and to foster reconciliation is to institute an effective system to prosecute and convict the individuals who perpetrate these crimes.
The Court will not judge only in the name of the victors, and neither will the Court be a tribunal occasionally set up in response to the wave of indignation against crimes that are committed from time to time. It must be a strong institution, with all' the indispensable features needed to guarantee its credibility, with very broad participation to make its Statute universal. It must be a Court that is devoid of partisan pressure, independent, impartial, based on the principles of the right to a fair trial and the right to judicial defence.
The Court must effectively complement national courts. No one doubts the paramount role of the domestic courts. However, this Court must be given jurisdiction to take cognisance in cases where domestic courts are either unwilling or unable to act effectively and appropriately, and thereby bridge the void this would create.
From a substantive viewpoint it is crucially important to identify the crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court. We share the view that it would be better to limit its jurisdiction to the most heinous crimes committed in the context of an armed conflict, whether international or not. Notwithstanding that it is the United Nations Security Council which retains responsibility to ascertain aggression, the Court should also be empowered to prosecute the crime of aggression. Failure to include this crime within the Court's remit would deprive the new institution of one of its primary functions.
In more general terms,.the role and the specific peace-keeping and international security responsibilities vested in the Security Council must be safeguarded. For this reason, a solution must be found which will balance relations between the Security Council and the Court, ensuring that it can perform its judicial functions in total independence and without hindrance.
An independent Prosecutor must not only be empowered to institute proceedings when individual States or the Security Council report a crime, but also to take the initiative start investigations independently.
Moreover, the credibility of an International Criminal Court will depend primarily on the prior acceptance of its jurisdiction, and not to its subsequent endorsement. This makes it essential for the Court's jurisdiction to be triggered automatically and be imposed on States by virtue of accession to the Statute alone. Without this kind of automatic jurisdiction the Court would remain an arbitration tribunal, operating solely according to the contingent political will and would be substantially incapable of preventing, pre-empting and punishing the crimes within its scope.
Every State party must therefore guarantee their total co-operation with the Court in every phase of its work. This is a vital condition to ensure its credibility and effectiveness.
History is offering us all a unique opportunity that has been made possible thanks to the lowering of so many barriers and to the universality of the values of the human person, freedom and democracy. I am convinced that this awareness will help us to overcome the differences of opinions that 1 know exist between us.
The project to institute an International Criminal Court is one of those that belong to the highest reaches of international political achievements. We can expect no indulgence if we fail in our endeavour.