Mr President,

Ours has been a century of mixed blessings. Great strides have been made in agriculture, architecture, the arts, economics, medicine., the sciences and you name the rest. Yet, hunger and abject poverty, cancer, HIV/AIDS, heart disease etc. persist in total abandon in spite this epoch making achievements. There is hope however that these problem areas will be arrested and reversed. Poverty and hunger are being addressed beyond the simple lack of food and  other basic human needs. Researchers are at work around the clock all over the world to find cures to the life taking maladies I refereed to earlier.

It is most unfortunate, Mr. President, that the greatest, nay, the monumental achievement of  this century has been the development of horrendous instruments of war and man's readiness to use them. It must not elude us however that simpler instruments of war have also been put to effective lethal use. The perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda did not use nuclear weapons. They mainly used machetes as their weapon of brutal choice. Thus, for now, the dream of the founding fathers of the United Nations to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war is yet to be realised. Thank God a third world war has so far been averted but, according to some counts, 250 local or regional wars have been waged since the end of the second world war and several hundred million lives have perished. In terms of lives lost, it may be that the third world war has already taken place except that the toll would have been much higher had weapons of mass destruction been resorted to. War, just or unjust is in itself grisly enough. To attempt to wipe out a whole people simply because they happen to come from a different ethnic background is immoral and totally unacceptable. To kill children, women, and the old and defenceless, including rape and the gruesome killing of expectant mothers as described to us the other day by the representative of Sierra Leone is criminal and despicable. The laws of war are well codified. They are different from criminal acts committed by individuals or groups of individuals to attain their own diabolical ends. And it is here that the absolute necessity to establish an International Criminal Court is crucial although long overdue. In Botswana from whence I was raised and nurtured., the sanctity of each individual life is held supreme and unassailable. It is an undeniable right to one and all. It is therefore always rather incomprehensible for Botswana to understand how the international community could allow the human bestiality that lies latent in every individual to explode to the point of producing the horrors of the magnitude of Rwanda, Cambodia, former Yugoslavia as well as the smouldering civil wars in Burundi, Sierra Leone, Abkhazia (Georgia), etc. which are also disasters waiting to happen. The establishment of an International Criminal Court will  hopefully make would be criminals to think twice before they can engage in their dastardly ventures. It is our hope that this conference will put in place an international instrument which would deter and/or bring to justice all those who willingly take away human life with reckless prodigality under instructions from the demons of hatred. The statute we would be adopting at the end of this conference should make it clear to those who harbour intentions of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that they shall be held individually accountable and responsible for their deeds. And that they can no longer hide behind obeying instructions from their commanders or leaders. There can not be any other way. Peace without justice can only lead to the reincarnation of the evil that existed hitherto.

Mr. President

The speakers who preceded me have confirmed the readiness of their countries have established an independent impartial, fair, just and effective International Criminal Court to complement national courts in trying perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The problem lies in the details and we are gathered here to iron them out. Should the Security Council be involved? I am fully alive to the apprehensions held by some that the Security Council should keep a distance from the operations of the court. The Security Council, as the organ of the UN charged with responsibility for the maintenance of International peace and security, is the first port of call for international crises which often lead to the crimes which fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC. The Council should be allowed. in my opinion the right to refer cases to the ICC. Such referrals should be carried out speedily and without any of the encumbrances usually associated with operations of the Security Council. It should be possible for any member state. or group of members, thereof, the Security council to refer any case before the Council to the ICC without interference from other members of the council. In other words, matters for referral to the court should in our humble opinion not be subject to lit veto. By the same token we are of the opinion that the prosecutor will be mandated to initiate action in his/her own right. This would be the case where the national courts are not in a position, for what ever reason to bring the perpetrators of serious crime to justice. And such initiatives would be carried out in a manner which does not violate the principle of complementarity.

Mr. President

The eyes of the world are focused on the outcome of this conference and it is understandable why this is the case. There are many mothers, fathers, sons and daughters  around the world who have lost their loved ones and the perpetrators are walking the streets in total freedom. Their hopes are pinned on the establishment of an international legal instrument, which, while it cannot bring back their loved ones to life, would hopefully prevent similar crimes in the future or bring the perpetrators to book so that other families may be spared the agony they have had to endure. We have to do everything in our power to establish the court in order to make their hopes and aspirations to become a reality.

I thank you for your attention.