Regional seminar on international justice in Dakar: Senegal reaffirms its full support for the Rome Statute
Senegal, the first country in the world to ratify the Rome Statute, today reiterated in Dakar that it was ready to “execute the warrants of this important Court, with the aim of eradicating impunity in the world.”
The Senegalese Minister for Justice, Mr Moustapha Sourang, before the representatives of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and eight countries from French-speaking West Africa - Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo - opened the first regional seminar on international criminal justice.
The seminar was organised by the ICC, in partnership with the Centre de Formation Judiciaire du Sénégal [Senegal Judicial Training Centre] and l'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, OIF (the International Organisation for the French-speaking World).
The First Vice-President of the Court Judge Fatoumata Dembele Diarra, representing the Presidency of the Court, invited States “still hesitant about joining the ICC […] to join the group of States Parties before the review conference” in Kampala in 2010. Béatrice le Fraper du Hellen, Senior Adviser to the Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, confirmed that the Prosecutor remains at the service of African victims. “This Court is your Court in Kenya, Darfur, Uganda, Palestine, Colombia and elsewhere. We will continue to apply the same standards”, she emphasised. The Registry was represented by Mr Didier Preira, Deputy Registrar of the ICC.
The seminar is taking place between 7 and 11 December 2009.
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