United Nations, New York

On 17 July 2008, H. E. Amb. Christian Wenaweser, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Liechtenstein, and President-elect of the ASP, organised an event at the United Nations Headquarters to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Mr. Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Foreign Minister of Costa Rica and President of the ASP opened the commemoration. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, adressed the audience, followed by Judge Philippe Kirsch, President of the ICC, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the Court; Mr. André Laperri`ere, Head of the Trust Fund for Victims, Dr. Ruth Wijdenbosch, MP, Member of PGA (statement available on this page), and Mr. Bill Pace, Convenor of the Coalition for the ICC.

Mr. Ben Ferencz presented an award to Mr. Arthur N. R. Robinson, former President of Trinidad and Tobago, and former PGA member, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the cause of international justice. In the afternoon, Amb. Wenaweser chaired a panel discussion on the topic "International Criminal Justice ten years after Rome - Prospects for the next decade", with participation by the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, Mr. Nicolas Michel, UN Legal Counsel and Mr. Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch.

In the morning, a press conference was held at the United Nations with Dr. Wijdenbosch, MP (PGA Executive Committee Member), H.E. Amb. MacDonald, Permanent Representative of Suriname to the UN, and Mr. Peter Barcroft, Senior Program Officer, PGA, to allow for an opportunity for the media to discussion the recent accession by Suriname to the Rome Statute of the ICC.