Mister President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

first of all, I would like to express my appreciation to the United Nations and to the Italian. Government for organising this Conference that will represent a milestone in the history of humanity.

Mister President,

I would like to congratulate you for your election as President of this Plenary Assembly and I assure you the total support of the Sammarinese delegation.

The Permanent International Criminal Court is about to be established here in Rome, and this is both an exciting and a critical moment.

It is exciting because of the importance of such an excellent instrument of justice: the Court will be able to become a reference point for peoples and single individuals that, after having experienced terrible tragedies, legitimately ask for justice. It is critical because the Court, in order to come up to the expectations, will have to be endowed with real power: only in this way, an instrument of justice, both necessary and awaited, will be established here in Rome, an instrument that must work for peoples. and not for the States.

Mister President,

San Marino is a small Republic, but this does not prevent it from sharing the concept of universal justice for peoples and individuals. On the contrary, we believe that justice represents a strong basis for the State and for the spirit of citizens, and that it brings solidarity and peace. This is the reason why the Sammarinese people joins the other peoples of the world to express the hope for a better future.

The Republic of San Marino has always shared the opinion that promoting the respect of human beings' fundamental rights represents an absolute priority for its national and international policy; for this reason San Marino has agreed to the main international instruments on the subject.

Mister President,

our Country hopes for the establishment of an international criminal. body that is really independent, efficient and authoritative.

In particular, San Marino believes that the relationship between the 'International Criminal. Court and national jurisdictions must be based on the principle of complementarity: that is the Court will have to intervene whenever national legal systems are not able or have no intention to punish people responsible for crimes envisaged by the Statute. However, the Court: must not replace national judges, but it must co-operate with them within the cases specifically envisaged by the Statute itself.

In order to act efficiently, the Court must have the power to set the cases coming under its jurisdiction. But it seems inappropriate for the States to have the option to choose or to refuse the jurisdiction of the Court: experience has taught us that in this way the very establishment of an International Criminal Court would be useless.

With a view to make the Cote's action more efficient and independent., San Marino supports the idea that the Prosecutor of the Court, and not only member States, can take penal action.

However, the Statute will have to provide for internal control mechanisms relative to the Prosecutors penal action.

As far as the crimes to be submitted to the Court's jurisdiction are concerned, it must be clarified that they must include crimes perpetrated not only during international armed conflicts. but also during national armed conflicts. In fact, we all witnessed that national crimes in. the last years, have been the bloodiest and that they still lack a legislation protecting the rights of people involved.

Mister President, to conclude, I would like to express San Marino's good wishes that,. during this Conference, the very interests of humanity, and not individual interests, are taken into account.

This was stated also by the UN Secretary-General underlining that: "There can be no global justice unless the worst of crimes - crimes against humanity - are subject to the law. " After all, the genocide against one people is not only a crime against humanity, but also an offence to individual dignity. Our dignity is therefore in the hands of the International Criminal Court.

Thank you, Mister President.