New York, December 1, 1997

Ladies and Gentlemen:

First of all let me thank the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations for having sponsored this conference today. It is a great honor for me to be present here in New York today and participate in this important event on an issue that we all support.

After many years of transnational struggle a possible positive conclusion of our common commitment for the establishment of an International Criminal Court is on sight. I will not go through all the initiatives that we have undertaken in the past years, but let me only mention the fact that for the Transnational Radical Party it all started in the tragic hours of Milosevic's aggression against Croatia and eventually Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the destruction, massacres, heinous crimes that occurred in the former Yugoslavia and with the shameful absence of the international community regarding the situation in the Balkans.

With the slogan "there is no peace without justice" our commitment has been active and outspoken on international justice since the end of the 1980s. We have campaigned on the streets of Europe, in parliaments all over the world and at the United Nations. During the last five years we have tried to mobilize people with demonstration, petitions circulated in national assemblies, with the presentation of parliamentary motions and resolutions, with conferences, alerting the press and media. This morning we delivered a parliamentary appeal on the establishment of an ICC in 1998 to the Secretary-General and to the President of the General Assembly. This petition was signed by over six hundred parliamentarians from sixty countries.

We have been active for the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and after all the atrocities committed in the last few years, we are now active for the establishment of an International Criminal Court to prosecute Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes. Such an institution can not only bring to justice perpetrators of horrible crimes, but at the same time, can act as a powerful deterrent against future crimes and future violations of international legality.

I recognize that the process is not closed and that we cannot consider the struggle won. Many obstacles still remain in the drafting of the Statute of the Court. An effective Court needs an independent Prosecutor, a clear and transparent relationship with the Security Council, needs to have an appropriate financing from the ordinary budget of the United Nations, and, of course, it needs to be fair.

I would like to mention briefly an issue that will be discussed next week at the PrepCom regarding penalties. The Transnational Radical Party is for the universal abolition of capital executions, we deeply believe that on this matter the Statute of the ICC should follow those of the two ad hoc Tribunals excluding the death penalty. Moreover, on this issue last March, TRP effectively lobbed at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in order to have a strong resolution adopted by the Commission on the necessity of a universal moratorium of executions. Thanks to the leadership of the Italian Government the document passed.

There is also another major issue that I would like to address today. With the establishment of the International Criminal Court the international community is in the process of creating what can be considered the only substantial reform of the United Nations since its foundation. I truly believe that this is not a minor aspect. After all the proposals of reform presented, after all the debates and discussions on this topic, we are now reaching a concrete reform that is a first answer to the major question of creating new sets of norms and rules, new institutions capable to insure the rule of law, a law that is the same for everybody on this planet, regardless their nationality. And this big achievements will happen thanks to the commitment not of bureaucracies, but of citizens from all over the world, thanks to a movement that is growing in the world day by day. It is a victory of the public, not simply the result of a diplomatic work.

I really consider the establishment of an International Criminal Court the first step towards other major changes based on the rule of law. Precisely on the rule of this new law we should concentrate our future efforts if we want the United Nations Organization to initiate a global reform. I do not want to distract your attention from the establishment of an effective, fair and independent International Criminal Court, but I believe that we should also start thinking about the creation of a Universal Court for Human, Civil and Political Rights on the model of the European Court on Human Rights, an institution to which citizens of the world may appeal directly.

So, wish you all good work for this PrepCom and for the next months that separate us from the Diplomatic Conference in Rome, next June. Thank you.