ST LUCIA – Eastern Caribbean country becomes party to ICC
NEW YORK, CMC – St Lucia on Wednesday became the latest country to sign on to the International Criminal Court (ICC).The Eastern Caribbean nation ratified the 1998 Rome Statute, becoming the 113th party to the ICC, the world’s first permanent court tasked with trying people accused of the most serious offences, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC welcomed Saint Lucia’s decision, calling it “a new sign of the international community’s commitment to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes that deeply shock the conscience of humanity”.
The Statute will enter into force on 1 November for St Lucia, whose move comes just over a week after Seychelles ratified the pact.
The ICC, which is based in The Hague, currently has investigations open in five situations: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, northern Uganda, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Kenya.
Other Caribbean countries that are party to the court include Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. (Caribbean Daily News)