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Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
The Honourable Surujrattan Rambachan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, delivered the feature address at the CARICOM regional seminar on the Rome Statute of the ICC, held on 16 and 17 May 2011 in Port of Spain. The seminar was organized by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, as part of its Review Conference pledge to promote the universality of the Rome Statute, with the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the assistance of the Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute (“Assembly”).
The President of the Assembly, Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, and the President of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), Judge Sang-Hyun Song, participated in the panels. In the context of the follow-up to the Review Conference, the seminar provided a forum for CARICOM Government representatives from States Parties, non-States Parties, international organizations and civil society to listen to and to provide their input on, inter alia, the importance of striving to attain universality of the Rome Statute; the outcome of the Review Conference, including amendments on the crime of aggression; consideration of other amendments to the Statute, in particular the proposal to expand the Court’s jurisdiction by including the crime of international drug trafficking which has been of a particular concern to CARICOM States for a long time; the challenges faced in becoming a State Party to the Rome Statute and in implementing domestic legislation to ensure that States can investigate and prosecute the crimes themselves. CARICOM participants were also informed about the updated Commonwealth Model Law, which is scheduled for adoption at the Commonwealth Law Ministers meeting in early July.
During his visit, President Wenaweser held meetings with senior Government officials, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Surujrattan Rambachan and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Roger Gaspard.
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President Wenaweser also met Mr. Arthur N.R. Robinson, former President of Trinidad and Tobago and former member of the ICC Board of the Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims, who through his 1989 statement in the United Nations General Assembly placed the establishment of a permanent international criminal court on the agenda of the world body.
Participants in the meeting welcomed the forthcoming ratification by Grenada, which would bring the number of CARICOM States Parties to 12, and agreed to strengthen their efforts so as to have the entire membership of CARICOM as parties to the Statute in the near future, as well as reaffirmed the region’s support for the ensuring that impunity does not prevail for Rome Statute type crimes.
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For further information on the Assembly of States Parties, please e-mail to [email protected].