Rescue from a collision course.

• Author: Maharaj, Ramesh Lawrence
• Position: Establishment of the International Criminal Court

In 1989, President Arthur N. R. Robinson of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, who was then Prime Minister, proposed the establishment of an International Criminal Court to deal with the growing problem of illicit drug trafficking and to facilitate the prosecution of major drug traffickers. There were serious objections at the time to the Court's establishment, as it was felt, among other things, that the national sovereignty of States would be compromised by the Court. Trinidad and Tobago, however, maintained the momentum. And the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) played a significant role in proposing an International Criminal Court with the power to investigate and bring to justice individuals who commit the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, "in recognition of a grave and ever worsening threat to the security of many States, the international drug trade and its attendant evils", as I put it on behalf of CARICOM at the Rome Conference, urging consideration to the inclusion of this category of crime within the Court's jurisdiction. Although the Conference did not agree to the inclusion of drug trafficking as a crime within the Court's mandate, Trinidad and Tobago is prepared to readdress the issue at a Review Conference.

We feel we should include terrorism and drug crimes in the Court's purview. Many countries of the world, particularly smaller countries, are likely to experience difficulties in dealing with such matters of a transnational nature. The national legal systems of these countries may not be equipped with the resources and expertise to effectively prosecute and punish these crimes. Transnational drug trafficking and acts of terrorism are, in essence, forms of genocide and crimes against humanity, areas over which the Court does have jurisdiction. Another significant issue which was the focus of considerable debate at the Conference was that of the death penalty. The lack of consensus at the Conference on the inclusion in the Statute of the death penalty on persons convicted of the most serious kind of killing...