On 4 November 2016, the Secretariat of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) received a letter from the President of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, Dip. Antonio Alvarez Desanti in response to a letter sent by PGA’s president, Dip. Margarita Stolbizer (Argentina), commending Costa Rica for its positive engagement with other countries in the region on promoting the Rome Statute system and urging the Legislative Assembly to prioritize the review of draft bill n° 16.272 before the plenary and n° 19.665 before the Security and Drug Trafficking Committee, respectively on the implementation of the Rome Statute and the establishment of internal mechanisms of cooperation with the Court.
Indeed, Costa Rica’s commitment to the promotion of international justice including within Latin America is best illustrated by its efforts on universality in the region. A notable effort in that regard took place on 10 July 2015, when PGA in cooperation with the ICC and the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, organized a Special Session on the Ratification and Implementation of the Rome Statute under the leadership of Dip. Ronny Monge Salas, PGA Board Member and the (at that moment) Chair of the Security and Drug trafficking Committee Dip. Antonio Alvarez Desanti. Parliamentarians from Costa Rica and El Salvador had the opportunity to exchange on the different aspects of the implementation of the Rome Statute in their respective domestic legal orders.
During this Special Hearing on the ICC, Judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi, president of the ICC, addressed the distinguished legislators among which the representatives of 4 political parties from El Salvador, to tackle all the misrepresentations that they may have had on the Rome Statute system; these efforts culminated in the parliamentary vote of 26 November 2015, in favor of the accession of El Salvador, converting the country into the 124th States Party of the Rome Statute and 1 State Party to have ratified the revised version that include the Kampala Amendments.
In his response, President Desanti, conscious of the necessity of the Rome Statute system as a tool to prevent and prosecute atrocities that are still ongoing in the world and in furtherance of the country’s commitment to the principle of accountability for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crimes of aggression, informed PGA that draft legislation number 16.272 entitled “Reforms to Title XVII on crimes against human rights and addition of a new Title XVIII on crimes persons and property protected under International Humanitarian Law, Second Book of the penal code Law Number 4573 of 4 August 1970, to a new Title XVII crimes against persons and property protected under International Humanitarian Law”, has already received a favorable decision from the Commission before which it was pending and consequently, has already consulted his office to include in the Agenda of the Plenary.
Additionally, Dip. Desanti will discuss the review of draft legislation number 19.665 pending before the Security Commission with Dip. Monge, current Chair of said Commission, so that it may receive a swift approval and be included in the Agenda of the Plenary.
The Campaign for the Rome Statute of the ICC receives the support of:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland
and
PGA receives core support from Sweden (SIDA) and Denmark (Ministry of Foregin Affairs).