Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 12, subsection (1), line 4, to delete "who" and substitute the following:

", whatever his or her nationality, who, whether in or outside the State,".

These are extremely important amendments which tie in with my opposition to section 12. The essence of amendment No. 3 is to convert genocide and crimes against humanity into crimes of universal jurisdiction rather than of national jurisdiction. Universal jurisdiction has been exercised world-wide for over a century and has its origins in the criminalisation of piracy and slavery. Just as pirates and slave traders were denied safe haven by universal jurisdiction in the past, those who would perpetrate genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, are denied it now. These three crimes covered by the Rome Statute are the most despicable of our time and sadly, those who commit them too often do so with absolute impunity. The more universal jurisdiction is extended by responsible nations to these crimes, the greater the likelihood that such impunity will be shattered.

On 29 April 2004, Amnesty International published a set of comments and recommendations on the Irish International Criminal Court Bill 2003. Foremost among these were the recommendation that universal jurisdiction, already provided for in the Bill with regard to war crimes, should also be extended to cover genocide and crimes against humanity. These amendments will extend the jurisdiction of all three of the crimes within this Bill to cover crimes committed by any perpetrator of any nationality who commits one of the crimes within or without the State.

In order to do this, the amendment proposes two changes, the first being to replace the word "who" in sections 7 and 8, with the phrase "whatever his or her nationality, who, whether in or outside the State,". This is the crucial change which extends the scope of the Bill to include any person of any nationality in any location in the world who commits any of these three offences under the Bill or any ancillary offence.

I refer to the Second Stage changes to remove section 12 which deals with the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the Bill as it stands. The section currently provides for universal jurisdiction for war crimes but only provides for extra-territorial jurisdiction over genocide and crimes against humanity where such crimes are committed by Irish nationals or on Irish ships or aircraft. I hope that sections 7 and 8 will be amended as section 12 will then no longer be necessary. This amendment will extend the jurisdiction of the Bill to cover heinous crimes committed all over the world.

The Bill accepts the right to use universal jurisdiction for war crimes. This amendment is not introducing any new legal principle. The effect of it is to make the same provision on jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and genocide as are applied to war crimes. The Rome Statute of the ICC is clear that domestic efforts are crucial to international justice. The preamble of the statute states that effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level by enhancing international co-operation. It also states that it is a duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes. It is only by harmonising domestic and international efforts that we can be certain that those who perpetrate these evil and despicable crimes will be brought to justice.

The enforcement of the law in any community is not the sole responsibility of central authorities. In order for a law-abiding community to exist, all members of that community must take seriously their role in upholding the law and the international community is no different. The International Criminal Court cannot of itself prevent the commission of these horrendous international crimes unless individual states fulfil their responsibilities and do everything in their power to see that the law is enforced.

As a democratic, peace loving nation, Ireland has a moral responsibility to see that these heinous crimes do not go unpunished. We have already lived up to that moral responsibility with regard to torture and war crimes. We now have the moral responsibility with regard to genocide and crimes against humanity. I hope the opportunity will be seized by the adoption of these amendments.