At its 7th and final meeting of the fifth session, on 1 December 2006, the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (“the Assembly”) adopted four resolutions: on strengthening the International Criminal Court and the Assembly of States Parties, on the programme budget for 2007, on the permanent premises of the Court and on the strategic planning process of the Court.
The resolution on strengthening the International Criminal Court and the Assembly of States Parties included, inter alia, provisions on State cooperation with the Court, on cooperation between the Court and the United Nations system, on the outreach activities of the Court, on the arrears of States Parties, and on the preparation for a Review Conference of the Rome Statute. The Assembly also approved a Plan of Action for achieving universality and full implementation of the Rome Statute, as well as the Headquarters Agreement between the Court and host State.
On the programme budget for 2007, the Assembly approved a budget totalling €88,871,800 and a staffing level of 647. It also decided that the Court shall adopt the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses of the United Nations applicable for 2007, with membership adjustments applicable to the Court. In this connection, the Assembly decided that any maximum assessment rate for the largest contributor applicable for the United Nations budget would also apply to the Court’s scale of assessments.
In the resolution on permanent premises the Assembly requested the Court to focus on purpose-built premises on the Alexanderkazerne site, without prejudice to the prerogative of the Assembly to make a final decision on where to permanently house the Court. Furthermore, it also requested the Bureau and the host State to proceed with the necessary preparatory work.
On the strategic planning process of the Court, the Assembly recommended that the Court continue the dialogue with the Bureau, and focus on the concrete implementation of the Strategic Plan of the Court, including the location of the activities of the Court, the position of victims, the outreach and communication activities of the Court, and the relationship between the Strategic Plan and the budget.
The Assembly of States Parties will hold its resumed fifth session from 29 to 31 January 2007 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.