ROME, 16 June. When Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer leaves this week's opening session of the International Criminal Court (ICC) conference, he will attend a meeting to help one of the countries which he believes could most have benefited from the Court: Cambodia.

''The recent death of Pol Pot stands as a stark reminder of the need for an international court to try the most inhumane of crimes,'' Downer told delegates here Monday. ''It seems impossible that the crimes he and his regime committed could have gone unpunished.''

Yet, he added, the world did not act to prosecute Cambodia's Khmer Rouge government, which is linked to the murders of some 2 million people between 1975 and 1979, because ''the international community had neither the will, nor, importantly, the mechanism to carry out such a task.''

Now, the foreign minister added, a strong Court is needed to ensure that governments respond to future crimes against humanity with ongoing investigation and accountability.

The example of Cambodia has been uppermost in many delegates' minds, especially since an effort to try Pol Pot for his role as Khmer Rouge leader dragged on for a year, and finally ended when the rebel leader died, ostensibly of a heart attack, in a Khmer Rouge camp in April.

Referring to the Cambodia genocide, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan lamented Monday that ''the man who organised that horror died just two months ago, without ever being brought to answer for his crimes before a court.''

Although other Khmer Rouge leaders, including the movement's current leader Ta Mok, had offered to turn over Pol Pot for a war crimes inquiry last year, the transfer was never made as nations haggled over how the Cambodian war crimes should be handled.

China, a longtime Khmer Rouge ally, resisted efforts by the UN Security Council to create a special ad hoc tribunal for Cambodia, while Cambodian leaders themselves appeared divided on the need for a wide-ranging investigation.

Pol Pot's death, however, has contributed to the momentum behind the ICC, with delegates here contending that a mechanism must be developed to respond quickly to similar offers to try war criminals.