On 8 April 2015, the newly elected President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, met with Mr Ban Ki-moon, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, at the UN headquarters in New York (USA), during her first visit to the UN in her new capacity. The ICC President expressed her appreciation to the UN Secretary-General for the UN’s continued support for the Court’s mission and activities, and reaffirmed the Court’s commitment to further strengthening relations with the UN.
The ICC President also highlighted the Secretary-General’s role as an invaluable advocate for international justice and the rule of law around the globe. She stressed the need to explore opportunities for working together to ensure accountability for serious crimes, to contribute to the prevention of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as to provide redress to the victims of such atrocities.
The meeting was part of the ICC President’s mission to New York where she met a number of high level UN Officials and discussed with them the role of the ICC in building lasting peace, empowering women and fighting gender-based crimes and crimes against children, as well as continued cooperation in the field and UN support for the ICC’s activities. In addition, the ICC President will meet with delegates from States Parties to the Rome Statute and Observers in the context of the New York Working Group of the Assembly of States Parties. She will also hold meetings with international NGOs and civil society organizations that have played an important role in establishing, monitoring and promoting the ICC to achieve an effective system of international criminal justice that is supported by the international community as a whole.
Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina) was elected as ICC President on 11 March 2015 for a three-year term. The International Criminal Court is a permanent international court established to investigate, prosecute and try individuals accused of committing the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ICC, while an independent judicial institution, concluded an agreement with the United Nations on 4 October 2004, governing the institutional relationship of the two organizations.
