Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court
Ninth Session
8-19 April 2002last update: 31 July 2002
The Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, established in accordance with resolution F adopted by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court on 17 July 1998, met at United Nations Headquarters from 8 to 19 April 2002, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 56/85 of 12 December 2001.
- Documents for the ninth session of the Preparatory Commission:
- Proceedings of the Preparatory Commission at its ninth session (8-19 April 2002):
- Report of the Commission (continued), adopted at its ninth session
- List of documents
- Working Group on the Principles Governing a Headquarters Agreement:
- Working Group on the First Year Budget:
- Working Group on Assembly of States Parties preparatory documents:
- Working Group on Financial Issues:
- Working Group on the Crime of Aggression:
- Proceedings of the Preparatory Commission at its eighth session:
- Selected other documentation:
In accordance with paragraph 2 of resolution F of the Conference, the Preparatory Commission consists of representatives of States which signed the Final Act of the Conference and other States which were invited to participate in the Conference.
Under paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 56/85, the Secretary-General was requested to reconvene the Preparatory Commission, in accordance with resolution F of the Conference, from 8 to 19 April and from 1 to 12 July 2002, so as to continue to carry out the mandate of that resolution and, in that connection, to discuss ways to enhance the effectiveness and acceptance of the Court.
In accordance with paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 56/85, the Secretary-General invited, as observers to the Preparatory Commission, representatives of organizations and other entities that have received a standing invitation from the General Assembly, pursuant to its relevant resolutions, to participate in the capacity of observers in its sessions and work, and also invited as observers to the Commission representatives of interested regional intergovernmental organizations and other interested international bodies, including the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Tribunal for Rwanda.Under paragraph 7 of the same resolution, non-governmental organizations may participate in the work of the Preparatory Commission by attending its plenary and its other open meetings, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Commission, receiving copies of the official documents and making available their materials to delegates.
The Bureau of the Preparatory Commission, which was elected at the 1st and 2nd meetings of the Commission, on 16 and 22 February 1999, elected at the 34th and 37th plenary meetings, on 8 and 19 April 2002, two new Vice-Chairmen, from the Eastern European Group and African Group. The Bureau continued its work, with the following composition:
Chairman: Philippe Kirsch (Canada)
Vice-Chairmen: Enver Daniels (South Africa), George Winston McKenzie (Trinidad and Tobago), Mirza Kusljugic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Rapporteur: Salah Suheimat (Jordan)
The Director of the Codification Division of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, Václav Mikulka, acted as Secretary of the Preparatory Commission. The Codification Division provided the substantive servicing for the Commission.
In accordance with the decision taken at its 33rd meeting, on 5 October 2001, the Preparatory Commission agreed on a work plan for its ninth session, which provided that, in addition to the working groups on the first-year budget, on basic principles governing a Headquarters Agreement and on the Crime of Aggression, the following two additional working groups would be established: the Working Group on the Assembly of States Parties - Preparatory Documents, and the Working Group on Financial Issues. The coordinators for the two additional working groups were to be Mr. Saeid Mirzaee-Yengejeh (Islamic Republic of Iran) as Coordinator for the Working Group on the Assembly of States Parties - Preparatory Documents, and Mr. Rolf Fife (Norway) as Coordinator for the Working Group on Financial Issues.
Mr. Fife was no longer available to coordinate the work on financial issues; accordingly at the 34th plenary meeting, on 8 April, the Bureau reassigned Mr. Fife's tasks to four other coordinators. The list of coordinators at the current session is therefore as follows:
(a) Zsolt Hetesy (Hungary), Coordinator for the Basic Principles Governing a Headquarters Agreement;
(b) Saeid Mirzaee-Yengejeh (Islamic Republic of Iran), Coordinator for the Assembly of States Parties - Preparatory Documents;
(c) Valentin Zellweger (Switzerland), Coordinator for the First-Year Budget;
(d) Christian Much (Germany), Coordinator for the Financial Rules;
(e) Gaile Ramoutar (Trinidad and Tobago), Coordinator for the Victims Trust Fund;
(f) John Holmes (Canada), Coordinator for the remuneration of judges, the Prosecutor and the Registrar;
(g) Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina), Coordinator for the Crime of Aggression.
At its 35th meeting, on 11 April 2002, the Preparatory Commission was addressed by His Excellency President Arthur Robinson of Trinidad and Tobago.At its 36th meeting, on 15 April 2002, the Preparatory Commission took note of the oral report of Ms. Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina), Chair of the Bureau's subcommittee acting as an interlocutory with the host country, on the functions that the subcommittee and the host country had identified as being necessary to take as soon as possible in order to ensure the expeditious establishment of the Court.The Chair of the subcommittee noted that those functions included the setting up of provisional systems to provide the basic elements necessary to ensure that the infrastructure was in place to welcome the first officials of the Court. Those systems, to be devised by an advanced team of experts, would also ensure custody of information received after the entry into force of the Rome Statute and would allow for the Court to rapidly recruit personnel and procure goods and services necessary for its effective functioning. To that end, the aim was that the experts would assist with the setting up of systems for human resources, a computerized financial system that would take into account the special requirements of a judicial institution, a computerized data and case management system, a security system, as well as systems on legal issues, public information, and the administration and management of the building. More specifically, the setting up of those systems would entail the following tasks:
- In the area of human resources: drafting model personnel contracts; beginning the preparation of job descriptions and a job classification system; recommending a commercial health insurance plan; recommending rules and regulations for service-incurred accidents; and establishing, with the assistance of financial experts, a payroll system;
- In the area of finance: preparing for the setting up of bank accounts, a budget system and a payment/accounting system with all relevant checks and controls;
- In the area of information technology: in consultation with the host country, beginning the basic work and preparing a full outline of the options available for a computerized data and case management system; providing the necessary support to help set up the human resources and finance systems; assisting on aspects of information security; and preparing a web site allowing for Internet access;
- In the area of security: establishing a mechanism to ensure information security; preparing staff policies on security aspects; and establishing connections with security systems of other relevant organizations;
- On legal issues: assisting in the legal aspects of the human resources, finance and procurement systems which are being set up; dealing with host country privileges and immunities issues; performing a "custodial function", i.e., acknowledge receipt of communications to the Court prior to the election of the high officials; and taking custody of documents that could constitute potential evidence in future proceedings before the Court;
- On public information: dealing, inter alia, with routine information matters; producing information materials; and updating the web site;
- On buildings and facilities management: liaising with the host country on the preparation of the temporary building, the building of a courtroom space and the appropriate allocation of furnishings;
- On procurement: recommending and preparing model procurement contracts and liaising with the host country on the provision of movable infrastructure.The Chair of the subcommittee noted that there would be a need for an expert to coordinate the performance of the above-mentioned tasks, and also stressed that the experts would not be drafting the actual job descriptions and other human resources matters, nor would they be doing any actual procurement. Such matters would ultimately be left for the officers of the Court. The role of the advanced team, which would comprise seven or eight independent, mid-level experts, would be to provide guidance and assistance to the Court during its initial stages. The experts will establish the systems and undertake functions until the first meeting of the Assembly of States Parties. The Chair of the subcommittee further explained that discussions were under way with the two ad hoc Tribunals and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the Secretariat to identify experts with proven experience in the handling of systems similar to those required by the Court. As regards the financing of the team of experts, mention was made of contributions from the European Union and the MacArthur Foundation, a private independent charitable foundation.
At its 37th meeting, on 19 April 2002, the Chair of the subcommittee recommended that in order to expedite the arrangements for the advance team, it would be advisable to request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to provide assistance for the necessary preparatory work on a fully reimbursable basis. At the same meeting, the Preparatory Commission agreed with this recommendation.At its 37th meeting, on 19 April 2002, the Preparatory Commission took note of the oral reports of the coordinators of the working groups on: the Crime of Aggression, the Assembly of States Parties - Preparatory Documents, the Basic Principles Governing a Headquarters Agreement, the First-Year Budget, the Financial Rules, the Victims Trust Fund and the remuneration of judges, the Prosecutor and the Registrar.
At the same meeting, the Preparatory Commission adopted its report on its ninth session (PCNICC/2002/1 and Add.1 and 2), containing the draft texts of the Basic Principles Governing a Headquarters Agreement and the Financial Rules, as well as two draft resolutions for adoption by the Assembly of States Parties, one on the Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties and the other on crediting contributions to the United Nations Trust Fund to support the Establishment of the International Criminal Court.
The Preparatory Commission noted with satisfaction that, during its ninth session, 16 delegates had made use of the trust fund which, pursuant to paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 53/105 of 8 December 1998, had been established to facilitate the participation of the least developed countries in the work of the Commission. The International Human Rights Institute of DePaul University (United States of America) provided accommodation to delegates from the least developed countries that attended the session.
