17 Apr ICC Breaks Ground on Its Permanent Home
17.04.13
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2 Comments
So reports the Kuwait News Agency. The building is expected to be completed in late 2015. Here is the winning design:
You can read more about the design, and see more artists renderings, here. It’s not a bad design, but it’s a bit too high-modernist for my taste. I preferred the one by Wiel Arets Architects & Associates that won third prize in the ICC’s competition. You can find it here.
How the financially-strapped Court is paying for its fancy new digs — which are expected to cost 190,000,000 euros — is anyone’s guess.
Here’s the statement from the VP of the ASP, Markus Borlin: http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/press%20and%20media/press%20releases/Documents/pr898/Groundbreaking-Ceremony-ASP-Vice-President-Statement.pdf
Kevin, I’m sure it’s just a rhetorical flourish, but there’s no need to guess. The Host State gave a loan, and States Parties have already begun making advance payments. There are all sorts of interesting questions that could be explored around the politics of financing, but my main point is this: States Parties have consistently exhibited a strong commitment to the idea of a permanent ICC, and for this reason I see no reason to fear that they wouldn’t fully fund permanent premises. The question is whether and to what extent they will fund what goes on inside it (I think the small number of available courtrooms may answer that…). And a big question here is whether the ASP will ask the ICC to absorb costs incurred due to delays in the ASP’s permanent premises project at the expense of the Court’s operations. We should also be careful not to overstate the purely financial aspect of the constraints facing the ICC and the ASP. 190 million may seem like a lot, but that’s small change in national budgets when spread out across all States Parties and over many years. Yes, some States Parties have seen cuts to their budget lines which include the ICC, some ASP delegates and… Read more »