UNITED NATIONS (LSN.ca) – As of March 7 there were only five more country ratifications necessary to bring the International Criminal Court (ICC) into force. Mauritius, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Cyprus ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC in March bringing the number of ratifications to 55. Once 60 countries have ratified the treaty, the ICC will assume universal jurisdiction even over countries that have not signed on to the agreement. Procedural consideration may require some months after final ratification before the ICC can effectively begin operations.
In February, ICC Convenor William Pace predicted that the final ratifications would be in before May, and on March 5, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced the opening of a bank account for member countries to contribute to the initial meeting of the countries that ratified the ICC. The meeting is to be held at UN Headquarters.
The ICC has been of great concern to pro-life and pro-family lobbyists at the international level since UN activists have pushed for the courts to define discrimination against homosexuality and the outlawing of abortion as crimes within the ICC. Moreover, the current setup of the ICC tramples the sovereignty of nations. A nation's own laws are counted as inferior to the ICC. Explanatory material on the ICC released by the Canadian government during its hasty passage of ICC ratification stated:
“It would not be a defence that an offence was committed in obedience to the law in force at the time and in the place of its commission.”
See the Secretary General's announcement and the treaty database listing the new ratifications.
See related LifeSite coverage:
Pope Could Face Charges Under International Criminal Court
(This update courtesy of LifeSite News.)