On the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of ICC's entering into force The ACIJLP calls upon the Egyptian new president to ratify and accede to the ICC

Cairo, 5^th July 2012

                                                                                                  

On the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of ICC's entering into force

The ACIJLP calls upon the Egyptian new president to ratify and accede to the ICC

the month of July of 2012 witnesses the 10th anniversary of the entering into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, when the Court began to exercise jurisdiction in the prosecution and accountability of those involved in committing the most heinous crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression in 1^st July 2002. This month also witnesses the 12^th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the ICC which approved at the Rome Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court on 17 July 1998.

The ACIJLP points out that in spite of the role and valuable efforts made ​​by the Egyptian delegation at the Conference of the Rome Statute of ICC and in spite of the signing of the Egyptian government to the Rome Statute of the ICC on 26^th December 2000, but Egypt does not ratify and accede to the Rome Statute until now.

While the ACIJLP celebrates the 10^th anniversary of the entry of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court into force, the Center seize this opportunity to calls upon the Egyptian President to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC to contribute to the consolidation of international criminal justice and the effect of such ratification on the rest of the Arab countries as Egypt is a country that has its important place on the map of the Arab world.

The ACIJLP believes that the ratification and accession to the International Criminal Court, represents a return to Egypt's status in international forums and an exercise of its regional and international role, especially after the 25^th January Revolution and that there is no justification for the reluctance of Egypt to join the International Criminal Court as an independent judicial mechanism that prosecute those involved in committing the most serious crimes.

The ACIJLP calls upon the Egyptian civil society organizations to intensify and coordinate their efforts to raise the awareness about the ICC as an international mechanism for the consolidation of the international criminal justice, protection of human rights, as well as calling upon the Egyptian government to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC.

It should be noted that the International Criminal Court was established under the Rome Convention in 1998, and its Statute entered into force on 17^th July 2002 and by the beginning of January 2011, the number of signatories to the Rome Statute are 114 countries, 31 countries from Africa, 15 countries from Asia, 18 countries from Eastern Europe, 25 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean and 25 countries from the Western European Group (WEOG) and other countries.

It is noteworthy that (13) Arab countries has signed the Rome Statute: Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Djibouti, Sudan, Syria, Oman, Comoros, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco and Yemen, however, 4 of which only ratified and acceded to the Rome Statute, namely, (Jordan, Djibouti, Comoros, and Tunisia) and 6 Arab countries did not sign the Statute including Qatar, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Mauritania.