University Communications
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322
Release date: Feb. 11, 2000
Contact: Elaine Justice, Assistant Director, 404-727-0643, or ejustic@emory.edu
Emory Law School To Host Policy Debate On Establishment of International Criminal Court
WHAT: Debate: "Toward an International Criminal Court?" a policy initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations
WHO: Debaters: John R. Bolton, senior vice president, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, former assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs; and Kenneth Roth, executive director, Human Rights Watch. Moderator: Griffin Bell, former attorney general of the United States, 1977-79.
WHEN: 6 - 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2000
WHERE: Emory Law School, Agnor Room, 1301 Clifton Rd., Emory.
ADMISSION: Free. Call 404-727-0608.
This debate on the pros and cons of establishing an international criminal court, the third in a series of debates being held across the country, is a policy initiative by the Council on Foreign Relations. In this country, the debate turns on the question of whether the United States should ratify the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was adopted by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries, held in Rome June 15-July 17, 1998.
The United States was one of seven countries voting against adoption of the statute, says Johan van der Vyver, Cohan Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Emory, who represented The Carter Center during the conference at a nongovernmental organization forum for an international criminal court.
Thus far, 94 countries have signed the statute and six countries have ratified it. The statute will enter into force, and the court will be established, when the United Nations receives the 60th instrument of ratification.
Other countries that voted against the statute included China, India and Israel, and two Arab states that have not made their decisions public.
Three matters that were not decided in Rome, according to van der Vyver, included: the rules of procedure and evidence; the definition of the crime of aggression; and what constitute"elements of crimes" within the jurisdiction of the ICC (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes). To finalize these issues, the United Nations established a Preparatory Commission, which already has held three rounds of meetings in New York, with more scheduled later this year.
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