Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know how delighted I am to welcome you to Admiralty House this evening, and to join delegates on the eve of your conference to mark the 10th Anniversary of the International Criminal Court.

May I say it is a special pleasure to have Judge Song Sang Hyun in Australia.

Judge Song is a most distinguished expert in Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, and a good friend of Australia. 

He has made clear that strengthening the engagement between the Court and the Asia Pacific region is a key objective of his term, and I applaud this vision and commitment.  

I congratulate Professor Byrnes, Chair of the Australian Human Rights Centre, and his colleagues on their organisation of this important international meeting.

The purpose of the conference is to reflect on the ICC’s operation in its first decade and to look forward to its future.

It will address two key themes: the role of the court in our region – in 2011 three States ratified the Rome Statute; The Philippines, the Maldives and Vanuatu (the most recent and the 120th to ratify)

Gender Justice – To consider how well the court is implementing its mandate in recognising women’s experiences of war and conflict and providing remedies for acts of sexual violence.

My friends, the Australian Human Rights Centre, at the University of NSW, is highly respected as a focus of academic and public intellectual thought in the human rights sphere in Australia and overseas.

The University is renowned for its research in this field.

The expertise and interests of its staff are reflected in the scope and scale of this conference.

They are lawyers who follow a proud contribution to the advancement of international law norms, to promoting and protecting human rights as practitioners, advocates, educators, researchers and jurists – a path taken by a very impressive list of distinguished Australians.

I have enormous respect and sincere admiration for their endeavors, their commitment, their fierce intellects, and I must mention too, their courage – a quality called on from time to time.

I feel strongly that they are not as widely recognised and acknowledged as they should be in our country.

I have had the opportunity to observe, on occasion, their leadership, their expertise and their skills.

Experiences that have made a deep impression on me about what can be achieved, often against great odds and great opposition, for the greater good.

My friends, as we move towards the 10th Anniversary of the Entry Into Force of the Rome Statute, Australia joins the international community in celebrating this milestone in the life of the International Criminal Court.

It is appropriate for us to do so with a sense of national pride in our own leading contributions to the Court’s establishment and to the goal of international criminal justice.

The world’s first international criminal tribunals were set up after World War II.

Justice Robert Jackson described the importance of proper judicial process to them: “That four great nations, flushed with victory, and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance­ and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law ­ is one of the most significant tributes­ that Power has ever paid to Reason.”

At the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal convened in April 1946, Sir William Webb of the High Court of Australia was appointed President of the Tribunal.

Justice Alan Mansfield – another Queenslander, from the Supreme Court, was seconded to lead the Australian Prosecution Team. 

Both appointments reflected Australia’s commitment to proper judicial process – despite popular calls for vengeance from a nation traumatised by the conduct of the war.

Even before the Tokyo Trial began, Australia, and other Allied Nations, had already embarked on war crimes trials of lower-ranking defendants.

Between 1945 and 1951, 300 trials before Australian Army courts were held in eight locations (Darwin, Singapore, Hong Kong, Morotai, Wewak, Labuan, Rabaul and Manus Island). 

Regrettably, this chapter of our military history is little known in Australia, let alone in the rest of the world. 

It is encouraging to note that the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law at Melbourne Law School, the Australian War Memorial, and the Legal Division of our Department of Defence, are working together on a series of reports of all 300 trials. 

Research to date indicates that military courts were always committed to fair trials.

Judge Advocates-General of our Army Legal Corps played a crucial role in ensuring correct interpretation of the law and its application to the facts.

More than 250 of the 820 defendants were acquitted of all charges.

These were not ‘kangaroo’ courts set up to ensure convictions at all cost.

They were a genuine attempt to pursue justice fairly.

Australians can be proud of our enthusiastic support of the modern international criminal justice project.

When the UN Security Council took the unprecedented step of establishing the ICC for Former Yugoslavia in 1993, Sir Ninian Stephen, (former Governor-General and a member of our High Court) was appointed a Founding Judge in The Hague. 

Justice David Hunt, NSW Court of Appeal, succeeded him, followed by Justice Kevin Parker, Supreme Court WA.

These three judges had outstanding reputations for their intellectual rigour, their fairness and commitment to proper judicial process. 

Graham Blewitt, now NSW Magistrate, served for over a decade as Deputy Prosecutor of the ICTY in The Hague. He developed a reputation for his dedication to principle throughout the tenures of the first three prosecutors of the Tribunal.

Australia has given great support to the ad hoc and hybrid international criminal tribunals, including in relation to Rwanda, Sierra Leone, the former Yugoslavia and, closer to home, Cambodia.

Justice Rowan Downing is an international judge in Phnom Penh.  

His Honour has extensive international judicial experience – particularly from the Pacific Islands.

Judge David Re recently joined the Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon after serving as an international judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in its war crimes chamber in Sarajevo.

Multilateral momentum for the world’s first permanent court gathered pace in the 1990s.

Australia was a willing supporter of the concept.

In 1998 at the Rome Conference, Richard Rowe, from our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, chaired the Group of Like-Minded States – countries committed to an effective international court. 

Mark Jennings, from our Attorney-General’s Department, took a key role in drafting Rules of Evidence and Procedure.

Then Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, and Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, publicly supported the new Court. 

Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Julie Bishop, then Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Treaties, facilitated a recommendation for Australian participation.

All worked hard for Australian ratification to secure our place among the Original States Parties to the Statute.

Since Rome, Australia has contributed to the ICC’s work at every stage. 

Our Government has made substantial financial contributions as a State Party.

And also voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund for Victims, the Trust Fund for Least Developed Countries and to the Coalition for the Court.

There are many Australians working in the Court – in Chambers, in the Office of the Prosecutor, with Defence Counsel Teams and in The Registry. 

Distinguished Professor Tim McCormack from Melbourne Law School serves as the Prosecutor’s Special Adviser on International Humanitarian Law.  

Our former Ambassador to The Hague, Lydia Morton, facilitated sensitive negotiations on the budget of the ICC. 

My friends, Australia stands in solidarity with the goals of the ICC to bring to justice those most responsible for the perpetration of atrocity. 

We warmly congratulate the Court on this significant milestone.  

We wish the institution and you who serve it, the very best for the pursuit of your noble objectives. 

I trust that your conference here will be fruitful: giving impetus to our regional neighbours to join the Rome Statute, and to advancing the crucial issue of gender justice.