Statement On 10th Anniversary Of The Rome Statute

Statement by the UK Foreign Secretary on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute

"July 17th 1998 was an historic day for international justice, when the international community adopted the Rome Statute and made a commitment to fight impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In the 10 years since its adoption, we have seen the International Criminal Court begin to establish itself as a central pillar of international justice.

"The United Kingdom played a leading role in the drafting of the original statute, and was amongst the first countries to ratify after we had incorporated the statute in to UK domestic law. Since July 2002, when the statute came into force and the International Criminal Court was established, we have been one of the most committed supporters of the ICC, both financially and practically as demonstrated through the conclusion of both sentence enforcement and witness relocation agreements with the court. Today's anniversary is a further opportunity to underline our continued commitment to the Court and the global fight against impunity.

"This week Surinam became the 107th country to ratify the statute. I urge those remaining countries that have not yet done so to take whatever measures are necessary to ratify the statute. And to ensure the universality of ICC crimes, I call on those countries that have already ratified to implement the Rome Statute into their domestic law."

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ENDS

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