UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- After 11 years of legal battles, Chile has ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), becoming the final country in South America to do so, announced Chile's Chief of Staff Antonio Viera-Gallo here on Monday.

    Speaking to reporters, Viera-Gallo called the Statute's ratification "the fruit of perseverance."

    The government of Chile had proposed constitutional reforms as a prerequisite to the ratification of the Statute in order to avoid any potential conflict with the Constitution.

    After years of internal legal challenges, Chile's Senate ratified the Statute on June 10 and the Chamber of Deputies followed suit on June 17, making the Statute's full ratification complete.

    The Rome Statute is an international treaty which established the ICC in The Hague, an independent and permanent court which prosecutes those accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, particularly genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

    The Statute came into force on July 1, 2002, once 60 countries had become parties. But now, even with 109 state parties, the Court still faces major challenges. The Court has found it almost impossible to bring some of the indicted war criminals to trial.

    African member states of the ICC, which make up the largest regional group of the 109 States Parties, have condemned the indictment against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, and continue to call for a one-year suspension under Article 16 of the Statute.

    On Wednesday, African leaders will meet in Libya, marking the fist African Union (AU) summit since al-Bashir was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan.

    In an opinion piece published in the New York Times on Monday, former secretary-general of the United Nations Kofi Anan urged the AU to fulfill its promise to fight impunity.

    "In my view, this outcry against justice demeans the yearning for human dignity that resides in every African heart," he wrote. "It also represents a step backward in the battle against impunity."