FOR RELEASE: Mar. 1, 1999
Contact: Linda Myers Office: (607) 255-9735Home: (607) 277-5035 255-5373 Compuserve: Bill Steele, 72650,565 http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A United Nations statute to establish the first permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) received overwhelmingly enthusiastic support from U.N. diplomats convening last summer in Rome and may become international law by the year 2001. An ambitious and timely symposium examining how the new court will work will be held at the Cornell Law School Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6.
Titled "The International Criminal Court: Consensus and Debate on the International Adjudication of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes and Aggression," the forum will take place in the MacDonald Moot Court Room in Myron Taylor Hall. It is being hosted by the Cornell International Law Journal, a student publication, which plans to publish the proceedings in its next issue.
The drive to establish an international criminal court began in the wake of World War II, in the shadow of the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals. Within the last half of this century, the United Nations has created ad hoc tribunals to respond to charges of human rights abuses in such places as the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The creation of a new, permanent sitting court will eliminate the need for convening a new tribunal each time charges of serious human rights violations are made. The ICC will be located in the Hague, the Netherlands.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A press conference with many of the international diplomats participating in the symposium is scheduled for Friday, from 1:30 to 2 p.m. in the Moot Court Room.
The new statute, which was endorsed by a vote of 120 to 7 in Rome last summer, creates a permanent court with the jurisdiction to adjudicate actions on genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression. Among the dissenting nations were the United States, India and Israel. Despite the controversy, the ICC is an international creation that is likely to have an enormous impact global human rights in the next century.
The symposium will include individuals directly responsible for negotiating the statute, academics, and members of the military and non-governmental organizations. The schedule includes:
--The Hon. Phillippe Kirsch of Canada will present the keynote address March 5, at 6:30 p.m in the Moot Court Room. He chairs the Committee of the Whole, the primary deliberative body of the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court.
--The Hon. Cherif Bassiouni of Egypt, author of 41 books on international crimes and chairman of the Rome Legal Drafting Committee, will present a luncheon address March 6, at 12:30 p.m. in the Berger Atrium in Myron Taylor Hall, sponsored by the Berger International Legal Studies Program and the Briggs Society of International Law.
Other symposium participants include: David Scheffer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues; Narinder Singh, legal adviser to the India Permanent Mission to the U.N.; Major William Lietzau, deputy legal counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental human rights group; and professors from Cornell, Yale and American University Law Schools.
Three panel discussions will be presented, moderated by Cornell Law School Professors John BarcelÛ, Muna Ndulo and David Wippman:
--Friday, March 5, from 2:30 to 5:30, a panel will focus on the contentious issue of the ICC's jurisdiction.
--Saturday, March 6, from 9 :30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., panelists will discuss institutional arrangements and preparatory work in defining the crime of aggression, adopting the rules of procedure and evidence and selecting judges and prosecutors. (That topic was discussed by a U.N. preparatory commission in New York City last week, and many of the participants will be attending the Cornell symposium).
--Saturday, March 6, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., a roundtable discussion on the future role of the ICC in the evolution of a truly international forum for crimes of global concern will take place.
During the symposium, "Flashpoints," a limited edition portfolio of photographs by Gilles Peress of human rights images from around the world, will be on view adjacent to the Moot Court Room. The evocative photographs, which were taken in Rwanda, Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Iran, are a gift to the Law School from Paula Mueller, B.A. '68, J.D. '73.
"The Legacy of N¸rnberg: Sustaining Human Rights," an exhibition of transcripts and papers from the Nuremberg trials in Germany, will be on view in the Law Library's Dawson Rare Book Room during special showings on both days. Both exhibitions are intended to complement the symposium's topic.
For information about the symposium, contact the International Law Journal Office: (607) 255-9666, or visit this website: http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/ilj. For information about the press conference, contact Kathleen Rourke, (607) 255-7477, [email protected].
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