For the first time a study has been conducted on the cost of operating a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) presently being planned by the United Nations. The study estimates that the cost of a permanent tribunal could run from between $60 million and $115 million annually and that the court could be operational by 2000, according to M. Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul University law professor, president of DePaul's International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) and vice chairman of the U.N. Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court.

Bassiouni has been one of the world's leading proponents of an ICC since the late 1960s and served as former chairman of the U.N. Commission of Experts investigating the violations of human rights in the former Yugoslavia.

The report is a joint project of the DePaul's IHRLI, the International Association of Penal Law, the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences and the International Law Association, American Branch, Committee on ICC.

The study, entitled "The International Criminal Court: Observations on and Issues Before the 1997-98 Preparatory Committee; and Administration and Financial Implications," was published by the IHRLI with funds from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The 290-page report has been sent to all the world's governments in advance of the next preparatory committee meeting Feb. 10-21 in New York. Bassiouni said that the report is significant because it "highlights the issues important for the work of the committee."

The preparatory committee is expected to complete a draft statute by April 1998 and a diplomatic conference is expected to be called in June 1998. Italy will be the host country, according to Bassiouni.

The permanent court would consider cases involving genocide, aggression, violations of the laws and customs of war, crimes against humanity and some treaty crimes, which must be determined.

"An international criminal court would be an end to impunity for international crimes," said Bassiouni.

For more information call Bassiouni at 312/362-8332.