United Nations, July 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the international community to drive forward efforts to achieve justice for all.
"Today, as we reflect on the suffering of all victims and survivors of grave crimes, I encourage all states to ratify the Rome Statute, and call on the international community to drive forward efforts to achieve accountability and justice for all," he said on Saturday in his message for the Day of International Criminal Justice, observed annually on July 17.
Noting that July 17 marks the 23rd anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court, which aims to end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, the Secretary-General said that accountability for these crimes "is central to our global commitment to peace, security, human rights and fundamental freedoms", reports Xinhua news agency.
"The UN has been committed to the International Criminal Court from the outset, based on our belief in the importance of international criminal justice, of which the court is a pillar," he said.
"The International Criminal Court has delivered important judgments, demonstrating that the perpetrators of grave crimes, including sexual and gender-based crimes, will face justice.
"Earlier this year, the court convicted Dominic Ongwen and confirmed the conviction of Bosco Ntaganda of crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo respectively," he added.
The UN chief underscored that the International Criminal Court is just one element of the international justice system, which encompasses other courts, tribunals and non-judicial mechanisms, adding that the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon have both accomplished important milestones in the past year.
The UN is also deeply involved in assisting member states to better address impunity at the national level.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz