An Introduction To The International Criminal Court - Institute for ...

192 introduction to the international criminal court
The Statute entered into force on the first day of the month after the
sixtieth day following the date of the deposit of the sixtieth instrument of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Secretary-General
of the United Nations. 67 For States that ratify, accept, approve or accede
after the entry into force of the Statute, it will enter into force for them
on the first day of the month after the sixtieth day following the deposit of
instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. 68 It is possible
for States to withdraw from the Statute by sending a written notice to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations. Withdrawal takes effect one year
after the receipt of the notification, unless the State in question specifies a
later date. 69 But a State that withdraws cannot escape obligations that arose
while it was a party, including financial obligations. 70 A State that reacted
to indictment of one of its senior officials by withdrawing from the Statute
could not affect any pending investigation or trial. The Statute does not
explain what would happen if there were enough withdrawals to bring the
number of ratifications below sixty.
Authentic texts
The plenary sessions and working groups of the Rome Conference took
place with simultaneous translation in all six official languages of the United
Nations system, namely, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and
Chinese. All documents were also available in these languages. The drafting
committee, presided by M. Cherif Bassiouni, worked intensely on the various
language versions in order to ensure the greatest degree of consistency
and coherence. The six versions of the authentic text of the Statute, adopted
the evening of 17 July 1998, are declared to be equally valid. 71 Because of
the complexities of the Statute and the haste with which the Conference
operated, there were inevitably some errors in the version that was actually
voted upon on 17 July. Subsequently, corrections were circulated to the
participants in the Conference for their concurrence, and the official text
is now slightly different from the one voted upon at the conclusion of the
Conference. 72
67 Rome Statute, Art. 126(1). 68 Ibid., Art. 126(2).
69 Ibid., Art. 127. 70 Ibid., Art. 127(2). 71 Ibid., Art. 128.
72 Roy Lee, ‘The Rome Conference and Its Contributions to International Law’, in Lee, The International
Criminal Court, pp. 1–39 at pp. 11–12.