Mr. President,

Allow me to join all the previous distinguished speakers in congratulating you on your election as President of this historic conference. I am certain that your well-known experience and wise judgement will enable this Conference to achieve what is has been convened for.

May I also congratulate all the Vice-Presidents of this Conference on their election.

Allow me also to express my Country's gratitude to the Italian Government for accepting to host this Conference here, in the Eternal City, and for all its hospitality.

Mr. President, no world order, new or old, can be founded on impunity, because impunity is the essence of injustice and sooner or later will produce feelings of revenge, and these, history shows, will in turn bring political instability.

Not surprisingly, in the aftermath of the atrocities committed during the Second World War and of the experience of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, one of the very first ideas conceived by the United Nations was to establish a permanent International Criminal Court that would have the jurisdiction to pass judgement on those found guilty of crimes against humanity. Admittedly, as the preparatory works for this Conference have amply shown, it was not an easy task ahead, not only because of the legal problems involved, but also as a result of political divisions, particularly those obtaining during, and resulting from, the Cold War. Indeed, it has been a hard and long-suffered journey which till now has lasted half a century and during which much human indignity and tragedy continued to plague various parts of our world with a absolute impunity. It was only when the Cold War became a thing of the past, and when the brutality and barbarity of the atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, shocked the international community out of -its complacency and highlighted the urgent need for an adequate international judicial mechanism, that things started moving and gathered momentum. The setting up of the ad hoc Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTFY) and for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1993 and 1994 respectively, marked a major step in the right direction. Yet it is clear that we cannot stop there and this is precisely why we are gathered here today.

Malta strongly believes in the need for an International Criminal Court. This commitment was made clear by the Prime Minister in his speech during an international Conference on the Establishment of a Permanent International Court held in Malta in September of last year under his auspices and those of Her Excellency Emina Bonino, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, and is being reiterated now. That Conference was a small contribution from my Country to this cause because we firmly believe that as we approach the new millennium, the international community has a duty to provide future generations with a judicial mechanism that will establish, fairly and justly, the guilt of the perpetrators of international crimes and provide for their punishment. We reiterate this commitment because notwithstanding the setting up of the two ad hoc Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, we cannot afford to pretend or just hope that an ad hoe tribunal can always be set up in the future if the needs be, or that the existence of such possibility constitutes a sufficient deterrent. The process of historic maturity has given us the opportunity to evaluate the limits and defects of provisional solutions like Nuremberg, Tokyo and the ad hoc Tribunals. It is for this reason that my country has done its best to give its support to initiatives for the creation of an effective and long-lasting International Criminal Court. This is why my Country has also opted to form part of the Like-Minded Group of States in favour of such Court. Mr. President, in these last years, and particularly since the preparation of the ILC Draft Statute way back in 1993, the discussions within the Sixth Committee of the United Nations, the Ad Hoc Committee and the Preparatory Committee created by the General Assembly have shown that, in spite of noticeable disagreement on some major issues, the creation of an International Criminal Courts enjoys a broad measure of support among member States. These bodies have also successfully articulated the major areas of disagreement making it easier for us to focus better upon them. indeed, their work has been monumental particularly that of the Preparatory Committee carried out in the course of its six intensive sessions and in the inter-sessional meetings and without which this Conference would have remained on the drawing board. My Country is grateful to all those persons and delegations that have contributed so much in all the preparatory work preceding this Conference. Not least among these are several non- governmental organisations whose expertise and commitment have contributed significantly and most positively to the Draft Statute.

This Draft Statute, with its huge number of bracketed text, the by-product of labours of the Preparatory Committee, is now before us and will be discussed thoroughly during this Conference. There are still a number of major unresolved issues, which need to be addressed with a view to reaching a fair and equitable solution. On some of these my Country feels very strongly. Malta believes that the Court must be a truly effective one, free from political interference. For this purpose we believe that the Court must have an independent prosecutor able to investigate cases and present indictments motu proprio, i.e. on its own initiative and without prior consent of state parties. We believe that the inherent jurisdiction of the Court should incorporate all the core international crimes namely, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes. We also believe that if a proper formula is found, the crime of aggression on which much work has been devoted by some delegations in the course of the works of the Preparatory Committee should also be included. Malta also believes that while the principle of complimentarity should remain as one of the pivotal points of the court's jurisdiction, the court must be judge of its own competence on questions of admissibility or unwillingness of national systems to proceed with a case falling under the jurisdiction of the Court. My country also believes that  although the role and obligations of the Security Council in maintaining international peace and security must he secured, it is essential that the Court must be able to operate without being unduly prejudiced by the Security Council. This is essential if the Court is to be a truly effective one. We also believe that the duty of future state parties to cooperate most fully with the Court be spelled out in no unclear terms. Finally, my country fully endorses the proposals put forward by several countries as well as by the European Union, stressing the importance that the Statute ensures respect to the rights of suspects, victims, the accused and witnesses in all the phases of the procedure, in particular, in respect of the anonymity of witnesses and the use of written testimonies in certain cases.

Mr. President, the very first paragraph of the Preamble of the Draft Statute, on which there has been no controversy, affirms our desire to further international cooperation to enhance the effective prosecution and suppression of crimes of international concern, and for that purpose to establish an international criminal court. This fundamental statements reflects United Nations resolution number 511207 of the 17th December, 1997 which gave official recognition to what in French is very aptly called droit d’ingerence, that is the right to intervene in all those cases where basic human rights are in danger. These crimes are of international concern precisely because they interest the international community as a whole, especially within the context of interdependence of human rights. In the words of a Barcelona Traction (second Phase) judgement (1970), States have an obligation erga omnes not to perpetuate such crimes. If this is so, then States have also a corresponding legal interest in ensuring the universal protection of these rights. What this Draft Statute is all about is precisely the recognition and application of this principle and prevention of impunity. This we owe to  future generations. Mr. President, this Conference gives us a unique opportunity to turn what till a few years ago appeared to be an unattainable project into a reality.

Thank You.