Brasília, March 23, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Lawmakers from various countries in the Americas and Portuguese-speaking countries gather, beginning today, in the Chamber of Deputies, in Brasília, to participate in the "Ibero-American/Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries Parliamentary Conference on the International Criminal Court," to discuss their adhesion to the International Criminal Court, an institution with permanent jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

For countries to adhere to the Court depends upon ratification of the Statute of Rome (1998), which defines rules for investigation and judgment and international penal rights. According to Deputy Maria José Conceição Maninha (PT-DF), a member of the committee that organized the event, "the Conference intends to encourage countries to sign the Statute of Rome, because the United States has tried to use bilateral or multilateral agreements to convince countries in Afridca not to join the Criminal Court."

Participants at the conference represent 27 nations: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Equador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, San Tomé and Principe, East Timor, and Brazil.

According to the Brazilian Deputy, the US opposes the Statute of Rome, because it refuses to allow its citizens to be judged by a non-American court for crimes against human rights.

Translator: David Silberstein