Following over one week of plenary and working group sessions of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Assembly of State Parties (ASP), the final plenary session on Friday morning ended with the adoption of numerous reports of the ASP and closing statements from country representatives. The resumed 5^th session will take place from 29 to 31 January 2007 in New York, where the focus will be on the work of the Working Group on the Crime of Aggression, which has yet to be defined by the ASP.

Draft Resolutions created by working groups on permanent premises, the Strategic Planning Process of the Court, and the 2007 Programme budget were all successfully adopted by the ASP. The Omnibus Resolution, formally titled “Strengthening the ICC and the ASP,” addressing general issues, was adopted, as was the Draft Audit Report of the ASP. However, after electing four out of five of its members, the matter of nominating the Asia region’s representative to the Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims was postponed to the resumed 5^th session. The nomination period for the election of members of the Board of Directors has been postponed already three times. Finally, representatives from Malta, Namibia, Uganda, Samoa, Mexico, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, Croatia, the Marshall Islands, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Peru, and Cuba all delivered closing remarks, thanking ASP President Ambassador Bruno Stagno Ugarte of Costa Rica for his efficient leadership and urging the states present to increase judicial cooperation with the Court.

Among the approved reports created by working groups or through consultation, a range of important measures were taken by the ASP this session. The Working Group on Permanent Premises of the Court moved closer to selecting the Alexanderkazerne option as the ICC’s new home, but remained open to other options. The Omnibus Resolution—covering an oversight mechanism for the Court, the upcoming 2009 Review Conference to make necessary amendments to the Rome Statute, states in arrears, and cooperation with the Court by states—was finalized through informal consultations and adopted by the ASP.

Though the substantive work of the Working Group on the Crime of Aggression will take place in 2007 through five days of meetings, the Working Group agreed to provide the chair with a new mandate to revise the Coordinator’s Discussion Paper in light of the substantial progress made at the Informal Inter-sessional meeting of the Group at Princeton to help guide future discussions. The Working Group for the Budget produced a draft report after complex consultations that was adopted by the ASP, with the final document committing the ASP to providing the Court’s Outreach Unit with its requested resources instead of asking the Court to absorb the costs through flexibility. In the area of gender justice, the Office of the Prosecutor decided to appoint Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda as focal point for external and internal gender issues instead of appointing a Gender Legal Adviser, as many NGOs had advocated.

UNPO extends its appreciation to the Coalition for the International Criminal Court [of which UNPO is a Member] for all of its informational sessions for member states and NGOs, providing two weeks of programming on issues relevant to UNPO members- most significantly the topic of universal jurisdiction for prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity, or the international law principle states sometimes utilize to claim criminal jurisdiction over people committing crimes outside the boundaries of the state.