GOVT TOLD TO BE PARTY TO THE ROME STATUTE

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- The Bar Council has called upon the government to immediately become party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to influence the promotion of international peace and stability.

Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said Wednesday that the ICC is an
independent and permanent court that seeks to stengthten the rule of law around
the world.

"The threat of punishment against states and their leaders who commit the
most heinous of crimes will serve as a deterrent.

"The ICC is a tribunal that receives widespread respect, and if fully
supported, will go a long way towards bringing about lasting peace by punishing
all those who perpetrated crimes against their fellow human beings," she said in
a statement Wednesday.

Ambiga said the Bar Council therefore welcomed in principle the
Parliamentary resolution, moved by the Malaysian Government on Jan 12 to
establish a United Nations-sponsored War Crimes Tribunal to investigate these
acts.

She said there could be no lasting peace without bringing to justice those
who committed crimes against humanity.

The reaction of nations that choose politics over human rights and morality,
and which refuse to denounce or contain such acts, is disappointing, she added.

"We must therefore turn enduring institutions set up by the international
community that call for such acts to be accounted for.

"It is thus imperative that nation states subscribe to these institutions to
give them the moral and legal authority to deal with blatant human rights and
humanitarian abuse worldwide," Ambiga said.

As of January 2009, 108 countries are party to the Rome Statute, which was
adopted in July 1998 to establish the ICC's functions, jurisdiction and
structure.

In 2002, the United States and Israel, withdrew from the Rome Statute,
indicating that they no longer intended to become parties to it.