Although 139 States signed the ICC Statute in Rome in 1998, the United Kingdom was only the most recent to ratify the Statute. Only 18 more States are needed to ratify the Rome Statute to bring the total to 60-the minimum number of member States required to ratify the bring ICC into existence.

William R. Pace of the NGO Coalition for the ICC, said that in six months, he expects to have the 60 States on board.

The ratification of the United Kingdom, Pace said, comes at an important time. As President Bush attempts to build an international coalition to fight terrorism, US Senator Jesse Helms had reportedly threatened to cut off military aid to any countries that ratify the ICC, which could isolate the US and negate the coalition against terrorism the US is trying to build.

Senator Helms reintroduced an amended version of the American Servicemaker's Protection Act (ASPA), a bill that makes American soldiers immune from prosecution. The bill, the CICC said, is expected to be reintroduced as an amendment to other bills. The Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill will likely be next.

"We hope the Bush administration is astute enough to realize the importance of the Court," said Helen Hamilton, of the Washington Working Group on ICC, at a press briefing. "The administration should realize that supporting legislation penalizing countries that join an international law enforcement mechanism is not the way to strengthen international efforts to bring terrorists to justice."

Meanwhile, the Ambassador to the UK, Jeremy Greenstock called the US one of the UK's strongest allies and said that he "hopes the US will continue working with us in creating a permanent ICC."

The importance of the ratification by the United Kingdom cannot be over emphasized," Pace said. "This great nation's decision ensures that the International Criminal Court will come into existence in 2002."

Pace expected the 60 signatures by March 2002, and that the court will be empowered by June. The ICC will be a permanent court that will investigate individuals who commit the most serious human rights violations. The ICC will be created on the basis on the ratification of the Rome Statute, a treaty adopted on July 17, 1998 at the UN Diplomatic Conference of Phenipotentiaries in Rome.

The ICC will be funded independently, Pace said, and States that did not ratify the treaty can make donations but will have no say in court rulings.

In addition to the ratifications, which occurred faster than Pace expected, the CICC discussed seven key issues at the Prep Com. Those included the relationship between the UN and the ICC; defining 'crimes of aggression;' financial rules and regulations, location of headquarters; the assembly of the States; the agreement on privileges and immunities; and the court's first year's budget.

But if the 60 States eventually ratify the treaty, that leaves at least 100 more that the CICC said won't participate, countries that need the court-including the US, India, China, and Japan.

"Most of the particularly heinous crimes will likely occur in those 120 countries that won't ratify the treaty," Ziauddin Ahmed of the Asian Network for the ICC said. "We're talking about countries like Bangladesh and Afghanistan. We want all the countries, specifically the countries that need it most."

Both Ahmed and Pace said that the ICC could be particularly helpful in the war against terrorism but that the court needs support from more countries in the world to boost public perception.

"The public will know there is an international court," Ahmed said, "and they will expect us to do something. If someone from nation X commits a crime and we can't bring him to trial, we're going to look weak."

Large geographic gaps remain in the countries that have signed on to the ICC and those that did not. Tajikistan is the lone representative of Asia. "Can you imagine a world court without Asia, with three countries on the continent pointing nuclear weapons at each other?" Ahmed asked.

If a person in Japan committed several human rights violations, that person can only be tried at the ICC if the person England or another Member State that ratified the ICC.

"That'll be very hard to deal with," Ahmed said.

Ahmed said that the attacks on September 11 would not have occurred had the ICC existed. "We (the Asian Network for the ICC) appealed to the Security Council for a tribunal for the Taliban before," Ahmed said. "(The Taliban) violated human rights all the time and the world ignored us and them. Now we have this thing and the US might have learned that it can't stay in isolation forever."

The 8th Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC) concluded two weeks of meetings on October 5. Seven key areas were discussed and the Coalition for an International Criminal Court (CICC) and the recent ratification of Liechtenstein, the Central African Republic and the UK made it "a very successful two weeks," Pace said.