Statement by H.E. Ambassador MIKANAGI Tomohiro, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, at the special session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to review the amendments on the Crime of Aggression

Thank you, Madam President.

It is an honor to address this Assembly of States Parties on behalf of the Government of Japan.

Japan reiterates its firm support to the ICC. The effectiveness and universality of the ICC hinge upon robust international support and broad participation. Discussions regarding amendments, including those concerning crimes of aggression, should be conducted in a manner that contributes to the effectiveness and universality of the ICC.

We strongly hope that the ICC will steadily gain trust from the international community by carefully implementing its mandate.

Any discussion on the expansion of jurisdiction should be based upon careful and thorough deliberation, and it will be meaningful only when the ICC is widely accepted by the international community. Given the extremely challenging circumstances surrounding the ICC today, we are concerned that a hasty expansion of its jurisdiction might not only deepen the rift between the States Parties and non-States Parties, but also undermine the unity of the ASP and the ICC’s effectiveness.

We must therefore exercise the utmost caution in assigning new tasks to the ICC, based on clear, shared legal understanding.

Madam President,

We should not turn a blind eye to the fact that only 48 States Parties have ratified the Kampala amendments—less than 40 percent of all States Parties, and less than 25 percent of all the UN Member States. We would welcome a discussion during the review conference to identify the reasons behind this low rate of ratification and how to address it.

I would also like to underscore that until now, all ASP decisions have been adopted by consensus, and there is no precedent for decisions by vote. Our strong belief is that consensus is the only way forward, especially given the gravity of the issue at hand, which is the amendment to the Rome Statute.

I thank you, Madam President.