MIRIAM FALLS IN ISTANBUL FORUM; STANDS TO PUSH FOR ROME STATUTE, GENDER JUSTICE by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 5:19pm ISTANBUL, TURKEY - Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, suffering from hypothyroidism, fell on stage, picked herself, and proceeded to deliver a paper after a standing ovation. Santiago, who examined by doctors after her speech, was declared in stable condition. Santiago in her speech urged the Philippines and other countries represented in the NGO called Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) to become parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Santiago is the author of a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that President Aquino should send the Rome Statute to the Senate for ratification. Santiago spoke before the annual forum of the PGA on Sunday, October 24, at Istanbul, Turkey. The PGA is an NGO that enjoys general consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. Santiago was invited by the forum organizers at the panel on gender justice and women's rights. The panel was organized by the Campaign for the Effectiveness and Universality of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court System, which is supported by the European Union. "Since the Rome Statute promises to end impunity for perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, the treaty covers gender-related atrocities," Santiago said. The senator said the most serious crimes of ...