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<title>AXWORTHY LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CAMPAIGN</title>
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<p><font face="Arial"></font><font face="Arial" size="+1"></font><font face="Arial" size="+1"><strong>September 13, 2000 <em>(9:00 a.m. EDT)</em> No. 229</strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial" size="+1">AXWORTHY LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
CAMPAIGN</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"></font><font face="Arial">Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy today launched an international campaign to
promote the signature, ratification and implementation of the International Criminal
Court (ICC). He made the announcement at the United Nations in New York.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">"Canada has been at the forefront of this groundbreaking initiative from its inception. We
were the first country in the world to adopt comprehensive implementing legislation and
we ratified the ICC Statute in July," said Mr. Axworthy. "Now, we are focussing on the
critical task of obtaining the greatest number of signatures and ratifications to ensure
the early entry into force of the Statute."</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Minister Axworthy noted that 111 countries have now signed the ICC Statute, signalling
their firm commitment to prosecute those who commit genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes. At the 1998 Rome Diplomatic Conference, 120 States
supported the ICC Statute. The States wishing to do so must sign the Statute before the
December 31, 2000 deadline.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Canada's campaign includes initiatives designed to promote signature and ratification of
the ICC Statute, as well as public outreach. These include:</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">• undertaking enhanced diplomatic efforts to encourage signature from countries in all
regions of the world;</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">• sponsoring and providing experts for seminars on ICC implementation in Africa, the
South Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean in 2000 and 2001; </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">• providing support for an ICC and women's human rights conference organized by two
human rights NGOs working in the region, to be held in the Middle East in the fall; </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">• </font><font face="Arial">funding a young professional through the Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade's Youth International Internship Program to work with the NGO
Coalition for an ICC and its member organizations to promote ratification and
implementation;</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"></font><font face="Arial">• holding, in conjunction with the Canadian Network for an ICC, an ICC youth
conference in spring 2001; and</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">• a new Government of Canada Web site, <a href="https://bac-lac.wayback.archive-it.org/web/20070221114124/http://www.icc.gc.ca/">www.icc.gc.ca</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">These projects supplement those already funded by the Department in 2000, including
$70 000 for the NGO Coalition for an ICC and $25 000 to two Canadian NGOs, Rights
& Democracy and the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice
Policy, for the launch and dissemination of the Manual for the Ratification and
Implementation of the Rome Statute.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The Statute of the ICC was adopted by 120 States at a Canadian-chaired international
diplomatic conference held in Rome in July 1998. The Court will be the first permanent
international tribunal to have jurisdiction over the most serious crimes known to
humankind -- genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The ICC Statute will enter into force with 60 ratifications. As of today, 19 States have
ratified: Belgium, Belize, Botswana, Canada, Fiji, France, Ghana, Iceland, Italy,
Lesotho, Luxembourg, Mali, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, Senegal, Tajikistan,
Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.</font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial">- 30 -</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">For further information, media representatives may contact:</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Debora Brown</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">(613) 995-1851</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Media Relations Office</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">(613) 995-1874</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><strong></strong></font><font face="Arial" size="+1"><strong>Backgrounder</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="+1"><strong>CANADA AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT</strong></font><font face="Arial"></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Canada has been a driving force behind the creation of the International Criminal Court
(ICC), whose Statute was adopted in Rome on July 17, 1998. The ICC will be the first
permanent international tribunal to have jurisdiction over the most serious crimes
established in international law -- genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and,
once a suitable definition is adopted, the crime of aggression. The ICC Statute will enter
into force after it has been ratified by 60 States.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Canada signed the ICC Statute on December 18, 1998, adopted comprehensive
implementing legislation on June 29, 2000, and ratified on July 7, 2000.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The ICC is designed to complement, not replace, national courts and will therefore
exercise jurisdiction where national courts are unable or unwilling to bring transgressors
to justice. The ICC Statute provides the tools to ensure that the Court will be an
independent and effective institution, and also contains sufficient procedural safeguards
to ensure that it operates in a responsible manner, respecting due process. The crimes
over which the Court has jurisdiction are carefully defined in accordance with
established customary international law. The Statute contains a number of provisions to
address the plight of women and children in armed conflict. The Statute recognizes
rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence as a war crime and a crime
against humanity, and also recognizes the enlistment or use of children under 15 in
armed conflicts as a war crime. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act includes indictable offences
based on the ICC Statute offences, extends Canadian law to include certain offences
against the administration of justice of the ICC, affirms that immunities under Canadian
law shall not bar extradition to the ICC, and extends Canadian extradition and mutual
legal assistance legislation to ensure complete compliance with ICC obligations.</font></p>
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