Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Gennady Kuzmin at UNSC briefing with regard to considering the ICC report on Darfur
Thank you, Mr.Khan, we took into consideration the information that you shared.
The position of Russia with regard to the activity of the International Criminal Court remains unchanged. Reputation of any judiciary body depends on whether this body acts in an open, unbiased and depoliticized manner, and whether its decisions have legal propriety. Regretably, the ICC is nowhere near these standards yet.
We would like to make a separate point about the recent decisions made by the ICC judges. Those decisions indicate that the ICC maintains the unacceptable practice of loosely interpreting the norms of the international law and Security Council documents.
When considering the jurisdictional challenges raised by the accused Ali Kushayb, the ICC Appeals Chamber presumed that it had the authority to interpret the provisions of UNSC resolution 1593.
In this regard, we would like to remind that the ICC is a body established pursuant to an agreement made by a limited number of states. Indeed, the authors of the Rome Statute envisaged an opportunity for the Security Council to transfer cases to the ICC. This, however, does not imply that the Security Council authorized the ICC to interpret the will of the Council. UNSC resolutions can only be interpreted by the Security Council itself or by a body that received such authorities from the Council. The ICC does not list among such bodies.
It would be absurd if a third-party mechanism with a limited number of participants could impose on UN members their understanding of the essence of UN documents, including the documents that can impact the entire international community.
UNSC resolution 1593 indicates directly that non-parties to the Rome Statute do not have any obligations thereunder.
Approaches of the ICC seem rather puzzling against the backdrop of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that has an opposite position. Acting on the basis of UNSC resolution 1757, this Tribunal rightly assumed that it had no authority to interpret UNSC documents.
We cannot but be concerned over the fact that the International Criminal Court, having failed to progress with investigative and judicial activity, now tries to show its worth by providing creative interpretation or rather rewriting the norms of the international law.
Mme.President,
In conclusion, let me briefly address the situation in Sudan. The Russian Federation consistently calls for political normalization in that country.
We are convinced that against the remaining political instability, achieving a national reconciliation is the main task. The ICC has done nothing to facilitate this over its 15 years of work on the Darfur file. As for ensuring justice, I believe the Sudanese can do this on their own.
Thank you.
