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The International Criminal Court (ICC) held a ceremony on 6 December 2011 at the seat of the Court in The Hague to welcome the Republic of Maldives as the 118th State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.
During the ceremony, ICC President Sang-Hyun Song presented the Ambassador of Maldives to Belgium and the EU, H.E. Mr Ali Hussain Didi, with a special edition of the Rome Statute, as a symbol of their joint commitment to the rule of law.
ICC President Song stated: “By joining the ICC, Maldives has taken the world one step closer to achieving universal adoption of the Rome Statute. War crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are crimes of international concern, and it is only together that we can end the terrible suffering that such atrocities continue to cause. I sincerely hope that other South Asian nations will follow your example so that we could soon welcome new States Parties from your region”.
Commending Maldives’ decision, the Vice-President of the Assembly of States Parties and Ambassador of Mexico, H.E. Mr Jorge Lomónaco, stated: “Given the important role of Maldives as current Chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), we hope Maldives’ accession to the Rome Statute would also be seen as a call to other States in the region to work for a united regional voice that speaks against impunity and for the protection and promotion of human rights”.
Ambassador H.E. Mr Ali Hussain Didi expressed Maldives’ commitment to the ICC, saying: “We are indeed resolved to play our full part, as a piece of the mosaic of international justice. We are committed to ensuring our own justice system fully complies with our obligations under the Rome Statute, and we are committed to ensuring that, through our participation in the UN and other bodies, we promote the cause of the ICC and of accountability and justice. That is our promise”.
The ceremony was held in the presence of the First Vice-President of the Court, Judge Fatoumata Dembele Diarra, Second Vice-President of the Court, Judge Hans-Peter Kaul, Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, Judge Daniel Nsereko, Judge Sanji Monageng, Judge Cuno Tarfusser, the Registrar, Ms Silvana Arbia, the Deputy Registrar, Mr Didier Preira and a representative of the Office of the Prosecutor, Mr Phakiso Mochochoko.
Speech of the President of the ICC, Judge Sang-Hyun Song
Speech of the Ambassador of Maldives to Belgium and the EU, H.E. Mr Ali Hussain Didi
Click here for photos and video footage of the events.
For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].
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