Ad Hoc Committee
9 April 2007
Criminal accountability of UN officials and experts on mission
Statement by Ben Playle
First Secretary and Legal Adviser
of Australia to the United Nations
(Check against delivery)
Madam Chair
Australia aligns itself with the CANZ statement previously made by New Zealand, but we wish to make some additional points.
We remain deeply concerned about acts of sexual exploitation and abuse, and other serious crimes, allegedly committed by UN peacekeepers, including the more limited category of UN officials and experts, who are the appropriate subject of our discussions in this Ad Hoc Committee. As New Zealand explained, some alleged offenders are regrettably not investigated nor, where appropriate, prosecuted for such crimes. The end result can be impunity, which we must act quickly to prevent.
To that end, Australia supports, in principle, the negotiation of a new treaty to prevent impunity for UN officials and experts who commit serious crimes while deployed on peacekeeping operations. But we wish to make clear our view that the content of any new treaty would require considerable further negotiation.
While the Group of Legal Experts has provided us with an excellent basis for our discussions, there are some aspects of the draft treaty text which it has presented which give us cause for concern. In particular, the draft text would establish quasi-universal jurisdiction over such crimes by obliging any State in which an alleged offender is located, if it does not extradite that person, to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute him or her. As New Zealand said, this may be too broad.
Where possible, Australia considers that the best option is for the State of nationality to exercise jurisdiction over the alleged offender. We have already enacted legislation so we can prosecute some relevant crimes committed by our nationals overseas, and we would encourage other States to do likewise.
But problems can arise when the alleged offender cannot be located, or brought to the State of nationality. In these circumstances, a robust extradition regime would be very useful. Such a regime would require a legal basis, and Australia believes a new treaty could make a valuable contribution in this regard to preventing impunity for serious crimes committed by UN officials and experts deployed on peacekeeping operations.
Australia looks forward to participating actively in these important discussions over the coming week.
Thank you, Madam President.