International Justice Day

International Justice Day: Celebrating the 11th Anniversary of the Rome Statute

Eleven years ago, on 17 July 1998, the ICC founding treaty, the Rome Statute, was adopted at the historic Rome Conference. July 17 is now celebrated around the world as International Justice Day. On this occasion, the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies (Leiden University, Campus The Hague) and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court in collaboration with and the T.M.C. Asser Institute hosted a panel discussion followed by a question-and-answer session titled "International Justice Day: Celebrating the 11th Anniversary of the Rome Statute". The Panel moderator was Ms. Cecilia Nilsson Kleffner, Hague Director CICC.

Opening remarks were delivered by Judge Hans-Peter Kaul (ICC Second Vice-President), speaking on a personal note, followed by interventions by Prof. Dr. Goran Sluiter, Professor of International Criminal Law, University of Amsterdam on "Improving Cooperation with the ICC"; Ms. Mariana Pena, Delegate to the ICC, International Federation for Human Rights on "Communicating the Rome Statute System: Making Justice Relevant" and Ms. Deborah Ruiz Verduzco, Senior Programme Officer at Parliamentarians for Global Action on “From Rome to Kampala: Prospects for the 2010 Review Conference”. All discussions were held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in The Hague.

Dr. Hans-Peter Kaul, on a personal note, expressed his hope that the State Parties would muster the energy and will to form or make available task forces to arrest suspects for the Court, ignore unreasonable demands for zero nominal growth in the budget of the Court, overcome the general stagnation and frustration with regards to the future Permanent Premises of the Court, and finally that State Parties during the Review Conference in Kampala in 2010 will avoid any risks for the intergrity of the founding treaty or for a uniform treaty regime.

The full speech of Hans-Peter Kaul is available.

Welcome by Dr. Carsten Stahn, Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies (Leiden University, Campus The Hague)

Opening by Judge Hans-Peter Kaul, ICC Second Vice-President

Prof. Dr. Goran Sluiter, Professor of International Criminal Law, University of Amsterdam on "Improving Cooperation with the ICC"

Ms. Mariana Pena, Delegate to the ICC, International Federation for Human Rights on "Communicating the Rome Statute System: Making Justice Relevant"

Ms. Deborah Ruiz Verduzco, Senior Programme Officer at Parliamentarians for Global Action on “From Rome to Kampala: Prospects for the 2010 Review Conference”

Panel moderator Ms. Cecilia Nilsson Kleffner, Hague Director CICC.

Q&A session with participants