The 26 members of the organisation's Honorary Committee and 19 other political figures called on the Italian government "to use all its strength in all its necessary political and diplomatic activities to activate and accelerate the work and favour the search of appropriate solutions in order to achieve the establishment of an independent, fair and effective International Criminal Court by 17 July."

Among the signatories are Massimo D'Alema, leader of the former communist Democratic Left - the main party in Italy's left-centre governing coalition -and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, head of the right-wing Forza Italia opposition movement.

Also signing the appeal were European Commissioner Emma Bonino, Nobel awardee Rita Levi-Montalcini, Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli; the director of the UN information office in Rome, Staffan de Mistura; Democratic Left Senator Cesare Salvi; the Radical Party leader, Marco Pannella, and the radical Euro-deputy Gianfranco dell'Alba.

They urged "all the Governments represented in Rome and particularly the Governments of the five Permanent Member States of the United Nations Security Council to act in order that the Court becomes an efficient complementarity to national jurisdictions; envisages an independent Prosecutor; has universal jurisdiction over the crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and its Statute does not include the possibility to impose the death penalty."

Several delegates have faulted the Italian government for not putting greater pressure on the negotiations process. But the Italian acting chief delegate, Umberto Leanza, stressed at a press conference Monday that Rome remains committed to a strong ICC and would not accept compromises on key issues.

A diplomat noted, however, that the political initiative on the search for a compromise has been left to the chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Canada's Philippe Kirsch, who has been organising informal meetings and pushing proposals that may result in a compromise Statute. In short, the diplomat said, Canada is playing the role of "a better host country than the host country".

Kirsch was praised Monday in a statement by the Transnational Radical Party and No Peace Without Justice for his "discussion paper," distributed Tuesday among delegates. This proposal "represents the first serious attempt to break through the stall which has characterised so far the work of the Conference," the statement said. "We appreciate the pragmatic and transparent way in which Mr. Kirsch is conducting the work of the Committee of the Whole, involving all the participants to this final race."

Kirsch's carefully crafted paper - which still leaves more questions than answers - has been greeted with caution by delegates and non-governmental organisations. Alejandro Kirk/IPS