Mr. Speaker, I wish to draw members' attention to a preparation meeting for the International Criminal Court to be held this week in The Hague.
The Government of Canada is co-sponsoring this meeting with the governments of the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. The International Criminal Court is a key element of Canada's Human Security Agenda and Canada has long been one of its principal proponents.
The preparation meeting will bring together representatives of government and experts from the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to assess the documentation of human resources, budgetary and operational issues. Canada's leadership on the ICC continues with experts from Canada participating in the meeting.
The Statute of Rome now has 55 ratifications and needs only five more to become reality. This meeting is being held so that the documents needed to get the court up and running quickly will be available and so that the court can operate effectively.
I invite members of the House to join with me in wishing the delegates to this meeting every success in their important work of getting ready for the International Criminal Court.