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Nairobi, Kenya
The President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, H.E. Mr. Christian Wenaweser, visited Kenya from 27 to 28 January 2011 in order to hold consultations on ICC issues.
During his two-day visit, President Wenaweser met the President of Kenya, H.E. Mr. Mwai Kibaki, members of the Cabinet’s Committee on the ICC, including the Attorney-General, Hon. Amos Wako, the Minister of Justice, Hon. Mutula Kilonzo and the Minister of Land, Mr. James Orengo, as well as other senior Government officials and members of Parliament. Ambassador Wenaweser also met with members of the diplomatic community and various civil society groups as well as the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
In his consultations, President Wenaweser recalled Kenya’s strong role in the framework of the ICC, from the Rome Conference to the Kampala Review Conference and that key positions such as the Vice-Presidency of the Assembly (until August 2010) and a judge position were held by Kenyan nationals. He also welcomed the cooperation that the Government of Kenya had extended to the Court in its activities in the country along with the continued cooperation extended by the Government, as expressed during a recent visit of a technical team of the ICC to Nairobi.
With respect to the expressed intention of the Government to establish, on the basis of its new constitution, national proceedings to investigate and prosecute serious crimes allegedly committed, including in the context of post-election violence, President Wenaweser emphasized the principle of complementarity according to which States Parties had the primary responsibility and competence to ensure that there was no impunity for the most serious crimes under international law and that the ICC merely had a complementary role in cases where national proceedings were not effective.
He therefore encouraged the Government to present its plans to establish credible and effective national proceedings to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber, which has been established to deal with the situation in Kenya, as an expression of its continued cooperation with the Court.
With regard to reports of diplomatic initiatives aimed at seeking a suspension of the judicial proceedings of the Court via the United Nations Security Council, President Wenaweser expressed the concern that such a request would implicitly be interpreted as a statement that the situation in Kenya constituted a threat against international peace and security and put the issue before a political body instead of having it considered by the judges of the Court.
The Government of Kenya reiterated its commitment to the Rome Statute and its membership therein. As regards the principle of complementarity, the Government noted that it was moving as expeditiously as possible with the implementation of the police and judicial reforms mandated by the new Constitution, which would allow national proceedings to be undertaken by the Kenyan judiciary, within the framework of the Rome Statute.
Press statement issued by the Government of Kenya, 28 January 2011
http://tinyurl.com/ST2011-01-28-PK
Video
Interview with ASP President Wenaweser on Kenyan TV
(© KTN Kenya / Standard Group Kenya)
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