SIERRA LEONE GRABS ANOTHER ICC POSITION
The Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC-ASP) has confirmed the appointment of Sierra Leone to co-chair the Review Mechanism of the Court and the Rome Statute system.
The appointment of Sierra Leone’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Legal Affairs, H.E. Ambassador Michael Imran Kanu alongside H.E. Ambassador Paul van den IJssel of the Netherlands as the two State Party representatives in the all-important Review Mechanism is an significant recognition of Sierra Leone’s continued leadership role at the international level and on ICC matters.
The ICC-ASP in its plenary session in December 2019 by resolution established a transparent, inclusive State-Party driven independent experts review process for identifying and implementing measures to strengthen the Court and improve its performance. The Independent Experts having concluded their work submitted a Final Report with recommendations in September 2020 leading to the establishment of Review Mechanism under the auspices of the Assembly to be led by two State Party Representatives, who would be supported by three ad-country Focal Points. The resolution of the Assembly adopted on 18 December 2020 sets out the process to be followed for the Review of the Court and the Rome Statute system.
A message sent on behalf of the President of the Assembly, Mr. O-Gon Kwon of the Republic of Korea, maintained that during its twentieth meeting, held on Friday, 5 February 2021, the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties took a decision on 28 January 2021 which would require the attention of the Assembly, that is, conveying “the nominees for appointment to the Review Mechanism under a silence procedure”, and since there were no objections to the nominees, the Bureau proceeded to appoint Ambassador Kanu (Sierra Leone) and Ambassador IJssel (Netherlands) to co-chair this important ASP mandate.
The appointment of Ambassador Kanu comes within a month of the overwhelming election of Sierra Leonean Justice Miatta Maria Samba as a Judge of the ICC, and at a time in which Sierra Leone is one of the Focal Points actively engaged in consultations to elect by consensus the next ICC Prosecutor.
By Mohamed Massaquoi
Information Attache
Sierra Leone Permanent Mission to the United Nations
Tel:.+19172940331
Email:[email protected]
