Cuban president Fidel Castro stated that justice was the least globalised aspect and denounced the United Nations (UN) for not approving an International Criminal Court thus reflecting its disregard for poorer and smaller countries.

The 74-year-old leader who was speaking at a forum entitled 'Globalisation and the International Situation' in Kuala Lumpur today said that Cuba was in favour of an International Criminal Court to fight war crimes and genocide.

"But the UN general-assembly which is the most democratic forum, the only one we have, did not approve it. This just shows that the UN pays no attention to poorer and smaller countries," he said.

Castro also questioned the five-member UN Security-Council's veto which he deemed "unacceptable and against the principles of equity where only one country is needed to raise their hand and override the procedure".

No justice

"With the veto there can be no code, no procedure, no International Criminal Court and no justice, said Castro," adding that "justice can only be applied by the powerful countries with their weapon to impose their own brand of justice".

The UN Security Council was formed by five countries which were victorious after the Second World War and was vested with veto power . It consists Russia, The United States, China, France and the United Kingdom.

The idea of an International Criminal Court was mooted in 1998 in Rome, Italy but was later rejected due to the United State's strong refusal to allow the court to be formed.

Castro said US itself was guilty of numerous crimes against humanity and could not claim to be the defender of democracy and human rights.

"There were four million Vietnamese who died in their war for independence fighting the Americans and many more were maimed and suffered malformations due to chemicals used on them," he said.

The US was involved in a war with the then Communist North Vietnamese forces which began in the mid-60's and lasted for a decade. US forces were later defeated by Vietnamese who formed a united communist republic under Ho Chih Minh.

Rich and poor

Earlier, Castro told his audience that the practise of colonialism was now replaced by globalisation and neo-liberalism facilitated by modern means of communication and information.

"The old form of globalisation took place with sailboats but now we have fast nuclear submarines and fast boats which are also powered by nuclear power," he said.

He said that poorer countries were promised that the gap with the rich would be closed but the gap had only grown bigger," Castro said.

"In the last 40 years between 20 percent of the wealthiest countries in the world and the two percent of the poorest ones, the distance was only 30 times but now it has grown to 74 times," he said.

Castro arrived in Kuala Lumpur last night and is scheduled to leave on Sunday morning.