The President of the Assembly of States Parties (“the Assembly”), Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, visited Strasbourg on 23 April 2013. President Intelmann met with members of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), with whom she discussed, inter alia, efforts to achieve universality of the Rome Statute and continued political support of the Parliamentary Assembly and its members to the ICC and the fight against impunity. 

​The President of the Assembly of States Parties (“the Assembly”), Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, visited Addis Ababa from 15 to 18 April 2013. During her visit, President Intelmann met with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Ms. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, with whom she discussed, inter alia, the advancement of the ability of the International Criminal Court (“the Court”) to address sexual and gender based crimes. The President also met with Ms.

On Tuesday, 16 April 2013, the International Criminal Court (ICC) held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of construction work on the Court’s Permanent Premises in The Hague (The Netherlands). Construction will be completed towards the end of 2015, when the premises will be ready for use.

On Friday, 12 April 2013, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Sang-Hyun Song and President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, Ambassador Tiina Intelmann addressed a meeting of the Juridical and Political Committee of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C. President Song and Ambassador Intelmann thanked the OAS and its member states for their strong support of the ICC and highlighted several areas where cooperation could be further enhanced.

In light of the 12 April 2013 press release by the International Criminal Court (“the Court”) that it has opened a formal internal inquiry into the allegations that some individuals under the Court’s witness protection programme may have been subject to sexual abuse by a former staff member, the President of the Assembly of States Parties, Ambassador Tiina Intelmann,  stated that she was deeply disturbed about such allegations and thus noted the opening of the internal inquiry, as well as the different actions and measures t

The Hague - At a reception on occasion of the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims on 20 March 2013, the newly elected Chair Mr Motoo Noguchi announced that the Planethood Foundation donated $ 50,000 in support of the Trust Fund’s activities to the benefit of victims of crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The Planethood Foundation is an initiative of former Nuremberg Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz and his son Donald, who attended the ceremony.

The Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) at the International Criminal Court elected Mr Motoo Noguchi as its Chair, at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Board in The Hague on 19 March 2013. Noguchi is amongst the five members of the Fund’s Board of Directors elected by the Assembly of States Parties in November 2012. He will serve as Chair of the TFV Board until November 2015. 

Judge Anthony T. Carmona (Trinidad and Tobago) has resigned from the International Criminal Court (ICC) effective 18 March 2013. The same day, he assumed office as the fifth President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, elected by the Electoral College of the country’s Parliament. While resigning, President Carmona stated that he stands “ready, subject to all the protocols, to assist in advocating the universal jurisdiction of the ICC”.

On 18 March 2013, the International Criminal Court (ICC) held a ceremony to welcome Côte d’Ivoire as the 122nd State Party to the Rome Statute – the Court’s founding treaty. The Statute will enter into force for Côte d’Ivoire on 1 May 2013.  

In a symbolic act held at the seat of the Court, the ICC President, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, congratulated the Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire, H.E. Mr Sallah Ben Abdelkader Hamza, and presented him with a special edition of the Rome Statute.