PGA was saddened to learn earlier this week of the passing of Hon. Jim Leach, former US Representative from Iowa and former President of Parliamentarians for Global Action (1991-1993).
Rep. Jim Leach was an outspoken, early champion for the establishment of the International Criminal Court. As early as 1989, more than a decade before the ICC itself was established, Representatives Jim Leach and Robert Kastenmeier in the US Congress proposed House Concurrent Resolution 66, which stated the sense of the Congress to be that the United States "should pursue the establishment of an International Criminal Court to assist the international community in dealing more effectively with those acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, genocide, and torture that are condemned as criminal acts in the international conventions cited in the preamble...." In addition, and in the late 1990s, Congressman Leach co-sponsored a closely related Resolution in the US Congress.
PGA wishes to extend its deep condolences to Rep. Leach's family and former colleagues and friends at this difficult time.