A/RES/53/96 Page 2 Stressing the possibility of making use of the International Fact-Finding Commission in relation to an armed conflict, pursuant to article 90 of Protocol I, and recalling that the International Fact-Finding Commission may, where necessary, facilitate, through its good offices, the restoration of an attitude of respect for the Conventions and the Protocol, Stressing also the need for consolidating the existing body of international humanitarian law through its universal acceptance and the need for wide dissemination and full implementation of such law at the national level, Mindful of the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross in offering protection to the victims of armed conflicts, Noting with appreciation the continuing efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross to promote and disseminate knowledge of international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the two additional Protocols, Noting that the Twenty-sixth International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent endorsed the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on the Protection of War Victims, including the recommendation that the depositary of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 should organize periodic meetings of States parties to the Conventions to consider general problems regarding the application of international humanitarian law, Acknowledging the fact that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted on 17 July 1998,4 includes the most serious crimes of international concern under international humanitarian law, and that the Statute, while recalling that it is the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for such crimes, shows the determination of the international community to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of such crimes and thus to contribute to their prevention, Taking note of the analytical report of the Secretary-General on minimum humanitarian standards submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-fourth session,5 Noting that international humanitarian law has been an important topic during the United Nations Decade of International Law, which will come to a close in 1999, fifty years after the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, and that the importance of this body of law will be highlighted in the context of the celebration in 1999 at The Hague and at St. Petersburg of the centennial of the first International Peace Conference, 1. Appreciates the virtually universal acceptance of the Geneva Conventions of 1949,3 and notes the trend towards a similarly wide acceptance of the two additional Protocols of 1977;2 2. Appeals to all States parties to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 that have not yet done so to consider becoming parties to the additional Protocols at the earliest possible date; 3. Calls upon all States that are already parties to Protocol I, or those States not parties, on becoming parties to Protocol I, to make the declaration provided for under article 90 of that Protocol; 4 A/CONF.183/9. 5 E/CN.4/1998/87 and Add.1. /...