Romania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs visits the ICC and donates artwork

On 9 November 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, HE Bogdan Aurescu, visited the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or the "Court") to meet with the President of the Court, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, and the Registrar Peter Lewis.

"Romania is a supporter of a rule- based international order and international law and is committed to the unique role the ICC has in preventing and sanctioning the most serious crimes of concerns to the international community," Minister HE. Bogdan Aurescu stated. "The Court has established itself as an indispensable piece of the international justice system …I acknowledge the efforts of the ICC to meet its mandate even during these difficult times," the Minister said.

The Minister also presented an artwork donation from the Government of Romania. The artwork is a painting representing Vespasian V. Pella (1897 -1952), Romanian lawyer, scholar, diplomat, teacher, a pioneer of international criminal law and an early advocate of the idea of establishing an International Criminal Court. The Minister emphasised that Romania wanted to thus "pay tribute to a man of great value and to give the artwork to the very institution he had imagined and designed but not lived to see up and functioning."

ICC President, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji thanked Minister Aurescu for Romania's support to the Court and for the donation. "It is a great honour and pleasure to accept this gift. It is the right place for Professor Vespasian V. Pella's portrait to hang; he lives not only in this room but also in the jurisprudence of the ICC."

Romania signed the Rome Statute - the Court's founding treaty - on 7 July 1999 and deposited its instrument of ratification of the Rome Statute on 11 April 2002. Minister Aurescu's visit to the ICC highlights Romania's support to the Court and the joint efforts deployed in the fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes that affect the international community as a whole.

Since the move to its new permanent premises in December 2015, the ICC received artwork donations from the Governments of Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Japan, Republic of Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, The Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal, Slovenia, and Tunisia, representing their cultural heritage as well as reflecting the mandate of the Court.

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected]

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