NEWS RELEASES
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT LEGISLATIONRECEIVES ROYAL ASSENT
June 30, 2000 (9:25 a.m. EDT) No. 169
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT LEGISLATION
RECEIVES ROYAL ASSENT
Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy today announced that Bill C-19, the Crimes Against Humanity and War
Crimes Act, which incorporates the provisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Canadian legislation,
has received Royal Assent.
Minister Axworthy intends to travel to the United Nations in New York on July 7 to deposit the instrument of
ratification of the ICC Statute.
"Canada has worked long and hard, on behalf of the international community, to gain support for this landmark
tribunal," said Mr. Axworthy. "We have now succeeded in enshrining its provisions in our own criminal law,
thereby ensuring that no person in Canada who has committed crimes against humanity will escape justice."
Ninety-seven states have signed the ICC Statute; it will enter into force with 60 ratifications. The 13 states that
have ratified to date are: Belgium, Belize, Fiji, France, Ghana, Iceland, Italy, Norway, San Marino, Senegal,
Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
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For further information, media representatives may contact:
Debora Brown
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
(613) 995-1851
Media Relations Office
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(613) 995-1874
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