The ICB has already had a long career, fronted by extremely relevant persons that have done great work. To those that have preceded me I hereby wish to express my gratitude and recognition.
We have experienced the Assembly recently held in Valencia with intense debates about the present and future of the ICB that have been very productive. The precedent elected Executive Committee also elaborated an important document for the future of our Bar Association.
The ICB has to fulfil an important role that is also essential and indispensable in today’s world, in which the development of International Criminal Justice must grow everyday so that Human Rights are respected everywhere and so that it can be an important instrument for the maintenance of peace. The ICB must disseminate International Criminal Justice in the world, support International Criminal Courts, help, and train and collaborate with lawyers, organizations and individuals authorized by the Rome Convention of 98’ to exercise the defense and accusation before international criminal courts giving importance to the rights of the victims that deserve better care.
The work of the ICB isn’t only the task of the President or the Executive Committee, it is also a task for each and every one of the individual and collective members that integrate this Bar Association. The members of the Executive Committee must work actively. In view of this, I ask each of you to participate, to collaborate and work for our Bar Association and for the objectives that we are pursuing. The ICB belongs to all of us, and together and supporting each other we can achieve any goals we set.
Finally, the recent creation of the ICCBA was a subject covered in the Assembly of Valencia. The ICCBA has a specific purpose that is very respectable and can fulfill a necessary function in the support of the work of lawyers before the International Criminal Court. However, the ICB has and must have larger objectives as it was stated at the Assembly of Valencia.
To work for a stronger International Criminal Justice every day and for the defense of its principles and values, in other words, for the defense of Human rights, must be the first objective of the ICB. In this path I will be by your side and at your entire disposal.
Kind regards,
Blas Jesús Imbroda Ortiz
President of the ICB
