COUNTRIES MUST ENFORCE INDICTMENTS OF WAR CRIMES COURT, LIECHTENSTEIN TELLS UN

COUNTRIES MUST ENFORCE INDICTMENTS OF WAR CRIMES COURT, LIECHTENSTEIN TELLS UN
New York, Oct 1 2007 9:00PM
The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been "the crowning success" of recent progress towards the rule of law and global justice, <"http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/62/2007/pdfs/liechtenstein-en.pdf">Liechtenstein's Foreign Minister told the General Assembly today, but that achievement must be backed up by arrests of all the people indicted by the Court.

Rita Kieber-Beck called on the UN and all Member States to cooperate with the ICC to ensure that the arrests are made and the indictees are brought to The Hague in the Netherlands, where the Court is based, for trial.

So far the ICC has issued arrest warrants for two suspects accused of war crimes in Darfur and five leaders of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, but none have been arrested.

The Darfur indictees are Ahmed Muhammad Harun, currently the Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb. The LRA indictees are the leader Joseph Kony, and commanders Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya.

Thomas Lubanga, a rebel militia leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was arrested last year, while the Prosecutor's Office has begun to probe of allegations of killings and rapes in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Ms. Kieber-Beck said the Security Council's decision to refer the situation in Darfur – where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes since 2003 – "was a landmark decision, both legally and politically.

"It was a strong message by the Security Council that the international community does not accept impunity for the most serious crimes under international law."

But the Foreign Minister stressed that this message needs to be backed by enforcement action on the suspects who remain at large.
2007-10-01 00:00:00.000

___________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
To listen to news and in-depth programmes from UN Radio go to: http://radio.un.org/

_______________________________

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/