Originally published on the CGS blog on June 7, 2010.
By: Ariela Blätter
When Ban spoke at the opening plenary on Monday, he started by explaining that this was the first time that he and the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, had ever shared the same stage. Its’ hard to believe that it took this long, but the lapse did not show any division in their support of the Court, as their messages were very much in sync in their praise of the Court. Ban thanked his predecessor for setting up the court that few had believed in 1998 would spring into life, much less be fully operational today. In terms of the ICC, he stated that the world order of impunity is over, and that we were clearly, slowly but surely, experiencing freedom from impunity. The reference to ‘slowly’ was likely in response to the criticism that during its 8 years in operation the ICC has not yet produced a completed trial. Both men also proactively responded to public concerns by certain African countries that the ICC has focused almost exclusively on the continent for investigations. Finally, Ban warmly welcomed the US delegation and signaled appreciation of the engagement of President Obama and his administration- who returned after an 8 year absence to the proceedings this past November in The Hague. In a positive turn of events, Ban was able to use his remarks to announce that there are now 111 members of the Rome Statute, with the very recent accession of Bangladesh.
