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Informal Daily Summary from the ASP: Tuesday, 24 November 2009

24 Nov 2009

ASP DAY 6: INFORMAL DAILY SUMMARY

I. PLENARY

From 10 to 10.30 a.m., an update was provided by the Facilitators on the progress made with respect to various draft resolutions considered during this ASP.

The Working Group on the Review conference held a session from 10.30 to 11.30 a.m. followed by two informal consultations from 11.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4.15 to 5 pm. It allowed furthering the exchange of views on the topics, the format and the outcome for the stocktaking exercise at the Review Conference.

From 11.30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Emmanuel Bichet of Switzerland chaired a third session of informal consultations on the Omnibus Resolution “Strengthening the International Criminal Court and the Assembly of States Parties” which brought up further proposals for language adjustment of the draft Resolution for the purposes of the aftermath of this eighth ASP Session.

From 12 to 1 pm, informal consultations on the issue of legal aid for the Defence were hosted by the Facilitator on Budget, Ambassador Urbina.

From 3 to 4 pm, an informal consultation on the draft resolution regarding family visits to indigent detainees was chaired by Finnish Facilitator Miia Aro-Sánchez. In particular, a new proposal was introduced inviting the Court to investigate the feasibility of establishing a Trust Fund based on voluntary contributions and report back at the 9th ASP.

From 5 to 6 p.m., a follow-up to yesterday’s informal consultations on the independent oversight mechanism as chaired by Facilitator Akbar Khan, Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth, in order to consider proposed amendments to the draft resolution on the mechanism.

II. SIDE EVENTS

During the day, NGO participants and delegates were able to attend opening statements delivered in the Katanga - Ngudjolo Chui Case at the seat of the Court. For more information and videos of the opening of the trial, please visit: http://www.icc-cpi.int/

From 1 to 3 p.m., a panel discussion on “Peace, Justice, and the International Criminal Court: Confronting Conventional Wisdom” was organized by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and co-sponsored by the governments of Norway, The Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago. States representatives, NGOs and officials of the ICC- OTP presented their experiences in reconciling the rule of law with peace initiatives in conflict and post-conflict situations. For further information, please read Human Rights Watch’s Report “Selling Justice Short: Why accountability Matters for Peace” at: http://www.hrw.org/node/84264

In the evening, the Grotius Centre for Legal Studies hosted Avocats Sans Frontières’ Roundtable Launch of “The application of the Rome Statute by national Courts in DRC – A case study” as well as a keynote speech by Professor Roger Clark. Fore more information, see: http://www.grotiuscentre.org/com/homepage.asp

Finally, we wanted to flag that the ICC report on its outreach activities in 2009 -- which was presented by the Registry last Friday at noon -- is now available online on the Court’s website at: http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/8A3D8107-5421-4238-AA64-D5AB32D33247/281271/OR_2009_ENG_web.pdf . The video presentation was also posted at: http://www.icc-cpi.int/menus/icc/press and media/audiovisual gallery/reports/outreach/outreach report 2009?lan=fr-FR