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`It was [...] an historic moment and certainly one of the finest moments in the history of the United Nations, when, finally, the Rome Statute creating such a permanent international criminal court was adopted on 17 July 1998 at the United Nations Conference in Rome, Italy. As I have stated before, this Court will be a gift of hope to future generations, its creation represents a giant step forward in the march towards universal human rights and the rule of law. It is therefore a fitting way to inaugurate the new millennium. This publication is a collective work by a group of persons closely associated with the actual making of the Rome Statute. It covers the substantive and procedural issues raised during the preparatory stages as well as the Conference. These active participants in the Conference provide an account of the main contentions on each of the key issues, the divergent approaches put forward by the principal proponents, how differences were resolved, how groups of articles were prepared, and how the final text as a whole was assembled. All the authors served certain key functions during the Conference, most of them chaired or co-ordinated the work of a committee, a working group or a negotiating body, all of which together produced the Statute. Their professional account of the work of the Conference makes this publication a unique resource for States contemplating ratification and preparing national implementation legislation. This book gives the insiders' reportage of the negotiations that culminated in this momentous Statute.' From the Foreword by Kofi A. Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations
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