ICC President to Visit Southeast Asia

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands and KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Sang-Hyun Song of South Korea, will begin an official visit to Southeast Asia on 5 March 2011. During his eight-day trip, he will be travelling to the Philippines (5-8 March), Malaysia (8-11 March) and Brunei (11-13 March).

The main purpose of President Song's visits is to raise awareness about the ICC and to facilitate informed consultations in countries that may be considering ratification of the Rome Statute. During his visits, he will hold meetings with state officials, members of the legal profession and other relevant actors.

While in Malaysia, President Song will also participate as a keynote speaker at the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Consultation on the universality of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

Background

The ICC is an independent, permanent court that prosecutes persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It was established by an international treaty, the Rome Statute, which has 114 States Parties as of 1 January 2011.

To date, three States Parties to the Rome Statute - Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic - have self-referred situations occurring in their countries to the Court. The Security Council has referred the situation in Darfur, Sudan, and the Prosecutor was granted authorisation by the Pre-Trial Chamber to open an investigation on his own initiative into the situation in Kenya.

On 26 February 2011, the United Nations Security Council for the first time unanimously decided to refer a situation - that of Libya - to the ICC Prosecutor. The Office of the Prosecutor has to now decide whether an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed in Libya since 15 February 2011 should be opened.

More information on the Court and its current activities: http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/

Biography of President Song: http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Structure+of+the+Court/Presidency/The+President/Judge+Sang_Hyun+SONG+_Republic+of+Korea__+President.htm

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.)

Contact:

Journalists wishing to arrange an interview with the President are encouraged to contact Fadi El Abdallah, Associate Legal Outreach Officer, by telephone at: +31(0)70-515-9152 or by e-mail at: fadi.el-abdallah@icc-cpi.int.

You can also follow the Court's activities on

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/IntlCriminalCourt and

Twitter: http://twitter.com/IntlCrimCourt

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of International Criminal Court