Lisbon, Portugal – Senate Hall, Assembleia da Republica, 19-20 February 2001

The President of the Parliament of Portugal, Dr. Antonio de Almeida Santos, opened the “Conference on ICC Ratification in Lusophone countries” on Monday, 19 February 2001 in the Senate Hall of the Congress in Lisbon.

The objective of the Conference was to promote and facilitate ICC ratification and implementation processes in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Sao Tomé et Principe, with special focus on the creation of parliamentary leadership and a “partnership on the ICC” with relevant Governmental authorities. None of these countries have yet ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted on 17 July 1998.

The Conference was structured in three sessions, respectively focusing on:

(1) “The International Criminal Court and the contribution of Lusophone States in the Development of International Justice: from the ad hoc Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to the permanent Court”,

(2) “Survey on the National procedures towards ratification and implementation of the ICC Statute in Lusophone domestic legal systems: analysis of problems and solutions”,

(3) “Where do we go from here? A plan of action on ICC ratification and National implementation for the Members of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP)”. This session hosted a specific discussion on the text of the Final Document of the Conference, which was analyzed, amended, approved and signed by all parliamentary delegates, the Executive Secretary of the CPLP, the Minister of Justice of Angola and the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs of Portugal. 

The event was followed by a Press Conference attended by all Conference participants and covered by all Portuguese media, as well as several African and Brazilian correspondents.

Without detailing the intense discussions designed by PGA to lead to strong and clear conclusions in favour of immediate ICC ratification, this brief paper will try to outline the most important contributions to the Conference on a country-by-country basis.

As usually occurs at all PGA sub-regional meetings on the ICC, the Lisbon Conference participants were MPs and experts, while other representatives of Governments and NGOs were invited as observers.

Notably, three Presidents of Parliament (Guinea-Bissau, Portugal and Sao Tome’ et Principe), seven Presidents of Constitutional Affairs, Justice or Foreign Affairs Committee (two from Brazil and Portugal, one respectively from Angola, Mozambique and Sao Tome’ et Principe) and other senior politicians represented their countries. Cape Verde was represented by a diplomatic agent, because MPs from majority and opposition had a legal requirement to be in their Parliament on 19 and 20 February 2001 to discuss and vote on the programme of the newly formed Government. Nevertheless, the new Speaker of Cape Verde, Dr. Aristides Lima, sent a message of support to PGA the day after his election, thus making clear that the newly elected parliament will soon embark on the ratification process.

PGA distributed a complete list of participants, the full programme and selected papers presented at the Conference at the next session of the ICC PrepCom.

BRAZIL

The Brazilian delegation to the Conference consisted of three MPs from both opposition and majority who acted on a consistent pro-ICC position throughout the entire Conference proceedings with competence and authority. Not only did they share a common understanding of the positive impact of the ICC on contemporary international relations, but also decided to join Parliamentarians for Global Action, thus endorsing the objective of the Parliamentary campaign of PGA to bring about the early entry into force of the Rome Statute.  Notably, several MPs from other CPLP countries did the same, with the awareness that their PGA membership would entail having a leading role in their National ratification and implementation processes.

Dep. Nilmario Miranda (President of the Human Rights Commission) and Dep. Antonio Carlos Pannunzio (President of the Foreign Affairs Commission), respectively from the opposition and majority, intervened in the opening session presenting the current situation on ICC Ratification in Brazil.

Dep. Miranda, the first signatory to that amendment, presented the Constitutional amendment. He stressed that the ICC process in Brazil is twofold: first, the official version of the Statute in Portuguese must be transmitted from the Executive to Parliament for discussion and approval, which would result in the ratification of Brazil; second, the Parliament must finalize discussion and adoption of the Constitutional amendment as early as possible, without prejudice to an earlier ratification (in light of the fact that there is still sufficient time before the entry into force and, even more, before the actual functioning of the Court). 

Dep. Pannunzio stated with emphasis that the ICC is an important component in humanising the current phenomenon of globalisation in that it promotes the globalisation of the protection of human rights and fulfils the promise of the Universal Declaration subscribed more than 50 years ago.

In her intervention, Dep. Fatima Lucia Pelaes made a survey on the different positions taken by Brazilian jurists on the issue of the Constitutional compatibility of the Statute, which can not be acceded by States with reservations. She concluded that a comprehensive interpretation of the ICC Statute promotes the progressive abolishment of life-imprisonment as long as mandatory revision of that sentence is provided after 25 years. In addition, she presented the possibility for the CPLP members and other States – especially those from Latin America and Europe – to create a “negotiating-block” against the penalty of life-imprisonment in the review-Conference that should take place seven years after the entry into force of the Statute. 

Supported by
The European Commission, European Union
The Government of Canada
The Parliament of Portugal
&
The Ford Foundation
The Government of the Netherlands
The Government of Denmark