On 11 May 2017, H.E. Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, President of the Republic of Costa Rica, visited the International Criminal Court (ICC) to meet with the President of the Court, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, and the ICC Registrar Herman von Hebel.
President Fernández expressed the Court’s gratitude for the visit of President Solís Rivera and his country’s strong and long-lasting support for the ICC, recalling that “Costa Rica plays an active role in raising awareness of the Court in Latin America, including by hosting a regional seminar on cooperation with the ICC in July 2015.” The President added that “the support and cooperation of States is truly central for the ICC to effectively deliver justice to victims of grave crimes.”
‘I wish to congratulate the magistrates, authorities and officials of the International Criminal Court for their careful and continuous work, which has brought this tribunal in a few years after its inception, to operate in a full and professional way’ President Solís Rivera stated during the visit. ‘But in order to consolidate the Court and offer the victims of the most heinous crimes an effective access to justice, it is up to the States Parties to strengthen our efforts to achieve universality and guarantee its financial sustainability. Costa Rica pledges its full support to these efforts.’
The visit of President Solís Rivera to the ICC highlights Costa Rica’s support to the Court and the joint efforts deployed in the fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes that affect the international community as a whole.
