Miriam makes campaign visit to The Hague

Sen. Miriam Santiago made a campaign visit to The Hague over the weekend to shore up her bid for a seat in the International Criminal Court, the Philippine embassy there reported Sunday. The embassy said Santiago, the Philippines’ candidate for the ICC seat, wrapped up her campaign visit with a luncheon reception last Sept. 30. “The Court must continue with what it is doing: building itself as an efficient and professional international organization, functioning as a credible international court and holding itself as a purely judicial, objective, non-political and neutral institution," Santiago said during her speech at the reception, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Elections for the six vacant seats for judges of the ICC will be held on December 12-21, during the Tenth Session of the Assembly of States Parties in New York. During her speech, Santiago also cited the ICC’s achievements such as the provision of support mechanisms to victims and witnesses, mechanisms in situation countries and an outreach program. She also pointed out the challenges the ICC has to address, such as state cooperation and increasing the budget of the ICC to enable it to fulfill its mandate. The Hague is home to the ICC, an independent international body, separate from the United Nations system. The ICC is the first permanent international court that deals with the gravest crimes against humanity. Santiago started her week-long campaign visit with a courtesy call on ICC President Sang-hyun Song on September 26, followed by meetings with ICC Registrar Silvana Arbia and Judge Kuniko Ozaki. She also held one-on-one meetings with the Ambassadors of ICC States Parties in The Hague. On Thursday, she met with representatives of civil society groups such as the Coalition for the ICC, Open Society Justice Initiative, and the Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice. During the meeting, Santiago bared her views on some challenges facing the ICC and answered questions from the floor. With Santiago was Ambassador Lourdes Morales. On Friday, Morales hosted a luncheon reception in honor of Santiago. In attendance were ambassadors of ICC States Parties in The Hague, ICC Registrar Arbia, ICC Second Vice-President and Judge Hans-Peter Kaul, Judge Erkki Kourola, Judge Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko, and ICC Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties Director Renan Villacis. — KBK, GMA News