and 28th Annual Parliamentary Forum
Tokyo, Japan | December 4-5, 2006
The Fourth session of The Consultative Assembly held in the National Diet of Japan brought together 165 MPs from all continents, with wide representation from Asia including 49 Japanese MPs from all political parties, as well almost 150 representatives of civil society, the academia, the legal professions, Governments and International Organisation, starting with the ICC represented in Tokyo by its President, Judge Philippe Kirsch.
This two-day political conference on international justice was designed to provide the Japanese Government with a public venue in which to announce the deposit to Parliament of the ICC Accession Bill and to offer to all participating parliamentarians all the necessary information to promote ratification, implementation and protection of the integrity of the Rome Statute when they would have returned home.
Delegations attending this event included the Speakers of Parliaments of ICC States Parties Afghanistan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Mali, Poland, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, as well as the Speakers of Kazakhstan, Nicaragua and Sudan, which have not yet joined the ICC system. Other high level MPs from Non-States Parties participating in the Assembly came from Cameroon, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Suriname, Turkey, Ukraine and Yemen.
The Session witnessed the achievement of important results for the Campaign for the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Japanese Government announced the imminent ratification; the Deputy-Speaker of Ukraine announced the ratification of the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Court (APIC); numerous MPs from Non-States Parties presented their readiness to push for the ICC process in their own countries and regions. The PGA staff created personal links with most of these MPs, including members of Parliamentary delegations officially sponsored by their Congresses. A frank discussion was held with a representative of the US Government.
A number of the most important speeches delivered in Tokyo at the IV Consultative Assembly have available on-line through the dedicated website of the PGA Japan National Group and are now available.
