Posted on 04/15/2002 8:49:32 AM PDT by madfly
At the United Nations...
NGOs and the ICC
By Shantha Rau
NGO Coalition for an International Criminal CourtEditor's note: The U.N. regularly organizes, funds, or arranges for funding, of NGO networks to support its various initiatives. Here are the comments of the ICC NGO network upon entry into force of the International Criminal Court at the U.N. on April 11. (Note the address of the organization at the end of the article). There are similar networks at work now in support of the Kyoto Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, global gun control, and global taxation.
Sign the signature removal petition
Mr. Chairman, it is truly an honor to have the opportunity to speak here today on behalf of the more than 1000 NGOs worldwide that have been working under the umbrella of the NGO Coalition for the ICC since 1995 for the establishment of a fair, effective and independent International Criminal Court. What we witnessed this morning with the deposit of 10 additional ratifications that will start the process for the International Criminal Court to come into being, was a historic moment. Those who support justice and the rule of law all over the world are celebrating this event at this moment.
As has been stated by governments, U.N. officials and NGOs, the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court will be the most significant achievement of international law since the founding of the United Nations itself. The importance of achieving more than 60 ratifications of the Rome treaty less than four years after the adoption of the Rome Statute of the ICC in July 1998 cannot be overstated. Predictions were made that it would take decades before enough governments would make the political commitment and work through the complex legal issues to bring the treaty into force. Yet here we are, less than four years later, having achieved the 60 ratifications required by the Rome Statute.
As has been stated this morning, this is a victory not just for advocates of the Court, but much more importantly, it is a victory for the victims of the horrific crimes the Court will address. We acknowledge and pay tribute today to all those who have been victims of such crimes and who did not have the option of seeking justice.
Today's momentous achievement can only be understood as a victory of the new diplomacy model of developing international law. It reflects one of the best examples of what can be achieved through cooperation between governments, international organizations and civil society. It must also be noted that this is an issue that has cut across all the usual alliances that prevail in the processes at the United Nations and that has obtained truly universal support, with ratifications now from every region of the world.
There are of course countries that continue to have concerns about the Court. Our experience in working on this issue all over the world has been that as government officials and parliamentarians learn more about the Rome Statute and how the Court will work, their opposition softens or disappears. The ICC includes strong due process guarantees and very high standards of justice reflecting input from all the major legal systems of the world. Often the opposition disappears in particular as officials come to understand that the Court will only step in when they are unable or unwilling to investigate a case against their own nationals.
This principle, the complementarity principle, and the need for countries to implement their obligations under the Statute into their national laws, is in fact making a critical contribution to strengthening national legislation and the ability and willingness of countries to deal with these crimes at the national level.
It is not our view that the ICC will be a panacea that will result in the resolution of all conflicts and prevent the commission of all serious international crimes. Nevertheless, it is our view that its establishment will make an important contribution in the search for peace, the development of the rule of the law and democracy. It is a cornerstone of what is widely understood as an emerging system of international justice, which will no longer allow enormous violations of human rights and humanitarian law to be committed with impunity.
Much work lies ahead to ensure that the Court we are establishing is as fair, effective and independent as possible, that support for the Court is truly universal, and that countries implement their obligations under the Statute. We look forward to continuing to work closely with governments and international organizations in this process.
As was said at the closing plenary in Rome, too much of history is the story of wars won and peace lost. Today, peace has won, and war has lost.
Shantha Rau
Information Services Coordinator
NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court
777 UN Plaza 12th Floor
New York New York 10017
USA
Telephone +1 212 687 2176 Faxsimile +1 212 599 1332
Email cicc4@iccnow.org
Web cicc4@iccnow.org
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The Liberty Committee's
International Criminal Court Petition
(Notice my use of "could"'s- I'm no lawyer.)
The ICC is a part of the plan to destroy Western civilisation. It is all written down by the authors of this plan - Gramsci, Lucacs, Marcuse and others. Read the chapter Four Who Made a Revolution in the latest book of Buchanan - "The Death of the West". I like President Bush but this is well above his head and power. Check the review by people who do not like him: Death of "Gringos"
Los Angeles, Alta California - 12/2/2002 - (ACN) It looks like Pzifer's Sildenafil Citrate (Viagra) tablets are not working for white men if one is to believe Pat Buchanan's new book titled "The Death of the West". Mr. Buchanan is predicting the demise of white America, white Europe and even white Israel because of the greater virility and fertility of people of color. He says that by 2050 the USA will be a Third World nation largely because of Mexican immigration and birthrates. Somebody should remind Mr. Buchanan of the great Olmec, Mayan, Teotihuacan and Aztec civilizations that existed in Mexico way prior to the time that his ragged ancestors arrived at Ellis Island starving for lack of potatoes.
Mr. Pat Buchanan is a white racist and a white bigot, plain and simple. He is now a "has been" and is simply race baiting and scaring white people in a last ditch effort to save his political career. It is not going to work. The ex-governor of Alta California, Pete (Pito) Wilson, tried the same thing and now he is a non-entity. The best that Pat Buchanan should hope for is to sell a few of his books to old folks in "white senior care centers" where their ungrateful sons and daughters dump them when they are no longer productive.
Buchanan focuses on La Raza in a chapter he titles "La Reconquista" where he contends that an invasion of the United States is taking place and that America now harbors a “nation within a nation.” We suppose that he means Aztlan. It looks like he flunked US History 101 in college because he does not seem to know that we had missions, pueblos and ranchos around here way before "gringos" ever came to this region. He writes that radical and militant Latino and Mexican leaders are conspiring for the cultural and demographic recapture of the Southwest from America and thus reversing the results of The Mexican War. It must be that he wrote the chapter before Mayor James Hahn declared Los Angeles a Mexican city. Not only is Los Angeles a Mexican city but also San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Antonio, Santa Fe, El Paso, and countless other cities in the southwest. The very names of these cities indicate their history. We have been here all this time. The only difference is that we as a people have now overcome many of the oppressive and racist policies that have been imposed on us by the "gringos" like the Buchanans and the Wilsons of the USA.
Perhaps Buchanan should look elsewhere for the causes of what he perceives to be "The Death of the West" instead of scapegoating people of color and specially us Mexicans in the southwest. Must we remind Mr. Buchanan of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire and other civilizations throughout the history of the human race. Are we responsible for the high homosexual and lesbian rates among white people? This is one reason why white people are not multiplying. How about the corruption in your highest levels of government? Must we remind Mr. Buchanan of the depraved sexual trysts of ex-president Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky in the White House or about Congressman Condit and his implication in the disappearance of Chandra Levy. Are we responsible for white kids committing suicide at such high rates and the shootouts at schools like the one that occurred at Columbine High School in Colorado. These incidents were all a "white thing" and we had nothing to do with them.
Sometimes us Mexicans feel sad for white kids. They do seem like they are dying. A glaring example took place during the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Alta California on New Year's Day. It just happened that the Columbine High School Band made the trip to participate in the parade. Unfortunately the Columbine H.S. Band followed another high school band from Detroit. This band consisted of all black students and they put on quite a show. Watching them marching and playing their musical instruments made one want to dance. They lifted ones spirits joyously. Then came the all white Columbine High School Band. What a sorry sight. One felt sad for them instead of happy. They seemed like people out of the film "Night of the Living Dead." They seemed dead inside with no spirit. No wonder those kids went on a rampage at the high school. I could not help think that there is a very serious "spiritual" problem at Columbine High School and that this was the cause for the shootout and killing of the thirteen students. This very same phenomena can be observed elsewhere throughout white society. Drugs (i.e. Oxycontin), alcoholism, racism, bigotry, hypocrisy, greed, homosexuality and white family incest are but a few manisfestation of the white spiritual problem. Whereas people of color commit economic crimes for survival, white people are committing "spiritual" crimes because of depravity, decadence and other similar factors. Most serial murderers throughout history, including Jack the Ripper have been white. Perhaps the fundamental problem of white people is spiritual in nature and it is this that is causing "The Death of the West". The "West" has lost its moral bearings and it is now devoid of spirituality. People of color have nothing to do with this and, to the contrary, we may be the salvation of the white people who see and understand what is really happening.
"Somebody should remind Mr. Buchanan of the great Olmec, Mayan, Teotihuacan and Aztec civilizations that existed in Mexico :
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Somebody out to remind the writer of this claptrap that some of these civilizations practiced human sacrifice to the gods. Archeologists have forund poles of bones indicating sites as many as 20,000 people were placed on altars and had their hearts cut out to propitiate stone statues. That during a period of sparce population.
There never was much civilization in that region. That glorified psychotic heritage is not something I need here.
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Bush is a pleasant person, but he is over his head in anything requiring depth and serious analysis. I wish he had stayed in Texas in figurehead positions in defunction or marginal oil companies.
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