Bangkok--27 Apr--UNISBKK
ICC-CPI-20090424-PR406
From 26 to 30 April 2009 President Sang-Hyun Song of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will travel to Thailand and Indonesia. He will reflect on the mandate and the current activity of the Court as both countries consider further movement toward ratification of the Rome Statute, the ICC founding instrument. It will be his first official visit abroad since he was elected President of the Court in March this year.
Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to sign the Rome Statute in October 2000, but it has not yet completed the process of ratification which would make it an ICC State Party. As for Indonesia, its President issued in 2004 a decree stating that it would accede to the Statute by 2008 in the context of a National Plan for Action on Human Rights. However, national legislation providing for cooperation between Indonesia and the Court has not yet been enacted. To date 108 countries, of which 14 in Asia, are States Parties to the Rome Statute, demonstrating their commitment to end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
In Bangkok, President Song will first attend on Monday morning the 27 April
2009 a regional conference organized by the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC) on “Fighting impunity and promoting international justice”. In the afternoon he will meet Thai Government officials to discuss the status of the ratification process of the Rome Statute and have talks with representatives of civil society organizations. In the evening he will be the guest of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT), where he will interact with Thai journalists and international media correspondents, diplomats, businessmen, and NGO representatives.
On Tuesday 28 April 2009 President Song will depart for Jakarta, where he will participate in the afternoon in a civil society roundtable organized by the Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for the International Criminal Court. On Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 April 2009 he will have talks with Indonesian government officials and key parliamentarians on the ongoing ratification process of the Rome Statute. He will also deliver an address at Paramadina University.
President Song (Republic of Korea) is the first Asian President of the International Criminal Court. He was elected in February 2003 to the first ever bench of ICC judges for a three-year term and assigned to the Appeals Division. He was re-elected to the Court in 2006, for a term of nine years.
President Song has extensive practical and academic experience in the area of court management, criminal procedure and the law of evidence. As a member of the advisory committee to the Korean Supreme Court and Ministry of Justice, he participated in the reform of the national litigation system and in particular of its Penal Code, the Code and the Court Rules of Criminal Procedure and criminal court processes. He also has experience in relevant areas of international law, in particular in international humanitarian law and human rights law.
For further information please contact Ms Laurence Blairon, Spokesperson, at +31 (0)70 515 87 14 or +31 (0) 6 46 44 88 89 or at [email protected]
http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/exeres/CBB8BB2C-8F09-4830-8B7B-8227DD145CAD.htm.