On November 19 Liechtenstein’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Christian Wenaweser, visited Atlanta where he spoke at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR). The visit was organized by Dr. Bruce Allen, Liechtenstein’s Honorary Consul to the Southern United States.
Upon his arrival in Atlanta, Ambassador Wenaweser first visited The Carter Center and Carter Presidential Library where he met with Ms. Karin Ryan, Senior Advisor for Human Rights. After an interview by Global Atlanta, the Ambassador was then taken on a private tour of the CCHR whose mission is “to empower people to take the protection of every human's rights personally. Through the sharing of stories of courage and struggle around the world, The Center encourages visitors to gain a deeper understanding of the role they play in helping to protect the rights of all people,” according to their website.
At the completion of the Ambassador’s tour, the CCHR opened its doors to guests including notable judges, professors of international law, members of the Atlanta Consular Corps and other distriguished guests from various NGOs and non-profits engaged in international human rights. The event was moderated by Dr. Allen. Letters of welcome were presented to the Ambassador by the chiefs of protocol for both Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, and for Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
Ambassador Wenaweser spoke for an hour and then entertained questions for thirty more minutes from the highly interested and informed audience. During his talk, he discussed the founding of the International Criminal Court (ICC) via the 1998 Rome Statute Treaty, as well as the court’s jurisdiction concerning the four agreed international crimes-- genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. He also stressed the limitations on the ICC in regard to having jurisdiction only within the borders of and at the request of the 123 states that are currently parties to the treaty. It was 2010, during Ambassador Wenaweser’s term as President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC that a definition was achieved involving crimes of aggression, and he discussed what had taken place to make that occur during a conference that he had chaired in Kampala, Uganda.
The evening ended with a reception, hosted by the Principality of Liechtenstein, and during which Ambassador Wenaweser continued to answer questions and meet with many other of the attendees.
For more information on Liechtenstein's Mission to the United Nations please click here.