Statement by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on the International Criminal Court

"The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court enters into force on 1 July 2002. This is a crucial milestone towards ending the impunity previously enjoyed by the most serious crimes affecting the international community as a whole.

"Germany is a State Party to the Statute, along with all EU member states and numerous others. Following the entry into force of the Statute, the first Assembly of States Parties will be held in September. Work will then commence on the establishment of the Court so that it can start operating as soon as possible. Even after the landmark achieved today there is much to do. Germany will continue to push for a Court that is as effective as possible and for the accession of a maximum number of further states to ensure universal application of the Statute."

The UN ambassadors from Ireland, Bulgaria, the Congo, Cambodia and Bosnia and Herzegovina shake hands after depositing their ratifications of the Rome Statute at the UN in April 2002.

A minimum of 60 ratifications were required for the Rome Statute to enter into force. On April 11, 2002, this threshold was passed when ten states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, the Congo, Ireland, Jordan, Mongolia, Niger, Romania and Slovakia) deposited their instruments of ratification with the United Nations as "joint sixtieth". The Federal Republic of Germany deposited its instrument of ratification in New York on December 11, 2000.

InFocus: International Criminal Court

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