PRESS RELEASE DATE: December 18, 1998
Canada signs Statute for International Criminal Court
Members of the Canadian Network for an International Criminal Court welcome the signature by Canada of the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court. Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy will sign the Rome Statute on behalf of the Government of Canada today at the United Nations in New York.
Canada's signature brings to 69 the number of states which have signed the ICC Statute. No government has yet ratified. Sixty ratifications are required in order for the ICC Statute to come into force.
Canada played an essential leadership role in the development of the Rome Statute for an ICC. During UN sponsored preparatory negotiations Canada chaired a group of "like minded" states promoting an independent and effective ICC. And at last summer's Plenipotentiary Conference in Rome a Canadian, Philippe Kirsch chaired the important Committee of the Whole.
CNICC members urge Canada to ratify the ICC Statute as quickly as possible. In the worldwide campaign to ratify the Statute, CNICC member NGOs are looking to strong Canadian leadership, similar to that which enabled the Landmines Convention to quickly come into force.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: - Amnesty International (Roger Clark or John Tackaberry
613-744-7667) - International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal
Justice Policy (Dan Prefontaine or Kathleen MacDonald 604-822-3254) -
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Warren Allmand or Barbara Bedont 514-283-6073) - Women's Caucus for Gender Justice in the ICC (Valerie Oosterveld 416-363-9843) - World Federalists of Canada (Lois Wilson 416-975-0395 or Fergus Watt 613-232-0647)