Pakistan calls for strengthening rule of law to promote world peace

Pakistan has called for strengthening the rule of law at the international level by ensuring that there are “no exceptions or double standards” so as to pave the way for pacific settlement of disputes.
“The rule of law is critical for a just world and international peace and stability,” Ambassador Masood Khan, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council.
The Pakistani envoy was speaking in a debate on the the promotion and strengthening of Rule of Law in the Maintenance of International Peace and Security with a special focus on the role of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), an independent body that is not part of the UN and is mandated to prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Any of the currently 121 States Parties to the 1998 Rome Statute which set up the ICC can ask its prosecutor to carry out an investigation, a non-State Party can accept its jurisdiction for crimes committed in its territory or by its nationals, and the 15-member Council may also refer cases to it. Its mandate is to try individuals, rather than States.
Pakistan is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.
Emphasizing the importance of the principle of complementarity and the need to strengthen domestic judicial systems, Ambassador Masood Khan underscored that the International Criminal Court was the court of last resort. The primacy of national jurisdiction had to be respected, he said, adding: Where national criminal justice systems were not robust, reforms could be undertaken in judicial systems, prisons, and security apparatus.
Ending impunity must be attained by strengthening local courts, enhancing the investigative capacity of national police, establishing forensic laboratories, supporting local prosecutors and improving prison conditions, he said.
Although Pakistan was not a signatory to the Rome Statute, Ambassador Khan said it acknowledged the rights and obligations of States parties to it. However, he stressed that no action of the Security Council should lead to the use of the Court for political purposes, and that it would be advisable to maintain distinction between the Security Council and the Court to ensure the Court’s objectivity, credibility and independence.
Since its existence, the Pakistani envoy noted, only a few situations, mostly from one part of the world, had been referred to the Court. The 2004 Agreement had clearly stated the parameters of the relationship between the Court and the United Nations.
A more diligent scrutiny of empirical and accumulated evidence, he said, was required to assess the Court’s contribution in relation to the work of the Security Council and the correlation between the two bodies.
“We support the role of the Security Council and international judicial system to foster a culture of rule of law in order to promote international peace and security,” Khan added.