13th July 1998

Treaty? What Treaty?

ROME.  Unlike the first "Bureau Discussion Paper" of the Rome Conference, the second version of Philippe Kirsch's efforts to achieve compromise was received with more suspicion than hope on Friday evening. No wonder: after hopes for 'reconciliation' rose Wednesday - and were properly dashed by the United States Thursday - many countries' sensitivities rose and and thus generally hardened their stands.

Death Penalty, an Agonizing Debate

ROME.  The issue of the death penalty has become a deadly argument in the conference, although somehow obscured by the higher-level political debates taking place at the top.

A Double Disadvantage

ROME.  Small countries attending the Rome Conference are hobbled by lack of resources and information, and the pressures that big countries exert on them to neutralise their stand on the International Criminal Court, says ambassador Cristina Aguiar of the Dominican Republic.

Copyright © IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.
Reproduction prohibited unless written permission is obtained from IPS-Inter Press Service.