Turkey is the First Target of IPC Campaign

The International Penal Court (IPC) Coalition, which has over 2 thousand members worldwide, including the International Amnesty Organization (IAO), has launched a new campaign. The campaign will each month, target a country that has not ratified the IPC.

Turkey is the target country in January. The local campaign that has been carried out by the IAO will be supported by the whole world throughout January.

With local activities, the Turkish government will be called on to ratify the IPC, to pass the necessary laws to enable the court to use its judicial authority and to approve the Privilege and Immunity Agreement.

The European Coordinator of the Coalition will come to Turkey Irune Aguirrezabal, the European Coordinator of the IPC will visit Ankara in January 29-30, to hold talks with government officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Aguirrezabal will come to Istanbul on January 31 to meet with NGOs and ask for their support for the campaign.

You can support the campaign by visiting

www.amnesty-turkiye.org/ucmpetition.php3.

IPC, the judicial institution of the international community

IPC is a permanent and independent legal institution created by the international community of the states to look into the most serious crimes that could be committed by states, including genocides, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The diplomatic conference in July 1998, approved the Roma Status, that established the IPC, with 120 votes. There were only seven votes against the Roma Status and 21 noncommittal votes.

The Roma Status defines the crimes, how the court will operate and what the states should do for cooperation with the court. According to the Roma Status, the court would be operational if approved by 60 countries. As of December 12, 2003, 139 countries have signed the Status and 92 approved it. (EA/NM)

For detailed information on the International Penal Court:

http://www.amnesty-turkiye.org/sindex.php3?sindex=vifois0905200202