UN General Assembly
1995

the United Nations nearly half a century ago to pledge to create a new system of international justice. Progress in this regard has, however, been slow. The atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda provided an impetus to establish a permanent international criminal court. Lesotho supports the view that a permanent international criminal court should be established by 1996. We believe that the most practical method of establishing such a court is by a multilateral 8 treaty that would enter into force following ratification by a reasonable number of States. It is our fervent belief that such a court would be the living embodiment of the fundamental principles of international criminal law. Besides being able to hold individual perpetrators of human rights violations personally liable, the court would complement prosecutions in national courts by acting when States were unwilling or unable to bring perpetrators to justice. The commendable efforts of the International Law Commission in preparing the draft statute for the court are to be applauded. It now remains for Governments and other