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afrol.com, 29 November - South Africa and Germany have announced ratification of the treaty establishing the new International Criminal Court, and two other countries have informed of their signing or intent to sign the treaty. The Court will have the authority to investigate and bring to justice individuals who commit the most serious crimes against humanity, such as genocide and war crimes. South Africa and Germany yesterday informed the UN that they had completed their domestic ratification process and would soon deposit the ratifications with the Secretary-General. Once they do so, they will become, respectively, the twenty-third and twenty-fourth countries to have ratified, out of the 60 needed to bring the Court into being. The South African representative to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, informed that his country had ratified the Statute of the International Criminal Court on the very same morning (November 27). South Africa had a "resolve to end impunity for international crimes and contribute to the establishment of an institution for international justice," Kumalo said. He said South Africans, as victims of apartheid, had "experienced the pain and despair suffered by victims of crimes against humanity" when they were without a forum from which to seek justice. It was for that reason that South Africa had resolved not to be a party to any further delay in establishing the International Criminal Court any longer. Germany, also a country with history when it comes to crimes against humanity, also announced its ratification of the Treaty. Noting that extradition of German nationals was constitutionally forbidden, the German representative said Germany would even amend its Constitution to allow the surrender of German nationals to the new court. With the special weight Germany has on this issue, he called upon the United States to sign and ratify the Statute before the end of the year. The US has been reluctant to the court so far, demanding special rights for American citizens and thus threatening to undermine the crucial issue of extradition of suspects. The critics against the US was also repeated by the US based rights group Human Rights Watch, which on Monday praised the South African decision to ratify the treaty. The rights group commended Pretoria for "taking a leadership role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court by proceeding with early ratification of the treaty." - South Africa's ratification is a major step forward on the path to establishing the court, said Brigitte Suhr, Counsel for the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "South Africa has provided consistent leadership on behalf of an independent and effective International Criminal Court, and its ratification sends a strong message that this Court has strong support in every region. We believe its action today will help to spur additional ratifications in southern Africa and around the world." During the treaty negotiations for the International Criminal Court in Rome in 1998, South Africa, along with other states from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), played a key role in thwarting the efforts of some major powers, including the US, to weaken the court. The strong united support for the Court from SADC nations, which South Africa helped to forge, was critical to the successful adoption of the Rome Treaty in the face of strong opposition from the major world powers. Also Syria announced its decision to sign the Treaty, while the United Arab Emirates informed that it just had signed the Treaty. Syria described the Treaty as "the most important achievement of the international community since the signing of the United Nations Charter" (in 1945). With the signature of the United Arab Emirates, 116 counties have signed the Treaty. The treaty remains open for signature until 31 December 2000. With South Africa and Germany ratifying it, 24 countries have completed the process. When 60 countries have ratified the Treaty, it comes into being, according to international law.
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