Zelensky submitted to the Council a draft law on the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. What does this mean

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft law No. 0285 on the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Ukraine has an obligation to ratify the Rome Statute in the Association Agreement with the European Union (this is referred to in Article 8). In addition, this is one of the requirements for Ukraineʼs accession to the EU.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President for Legal Affairs Iryna Mudra explained that thanks to the involvement of Ukraine in the ICC, it will be possible to prosecute crimes committed by Russian citizens on the territory of Ukraine.

By ratifying the Rome Statute, Ukraine will only receive benefits, because the state will become a full-fledged participant of the ICC. This, in particular, will make it easier for Ukrainians to access the special ICC Trust Fund for victims, which will increase the chances of receiving compensation for victims of Russian crimes.

It will also allow to protect the Ukrainian military. The ratification of the Rome Statute does not mean that there will be a risk of bringing the Ukrainian military and other citizens to justice, because the ICC can already do that — Ukraine recognized its jurisdiction on November 21, 2013.

Ukraine plans to ratify the statute with a statement that the ICC will not have jurisdiction under Art. 8 (war crimes) against citizens of Ukraine within 7 years after ratification.

This means that before the ratification of the ICC, it has the right to investigate war-related crimes committed by citizens of any country on the territory of Ukraine. But after ratification, the ICC will lose jurisdiction over Ukrainian citizens for 7 years. But this does not mean impunity, as national law enforcement agencies are obliged to investigate such crimes.

Also, after the ratification of the Rome Statute, Ukraine will be able to defend its interests in the ICC — in particular, by working in the Assembly of States participating in the ICC, proposing its candidate for the post of judge, and participating in the selection of judges and prosecutors of the Court.

Bill No. 11484

Separate draft law No. 11484 proposes to bring the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine into compliance with the norms of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

In the explanatory note to the draft law, it was noted that currently the provisions of the Criminal Code do not provide for criminal liability for crimes against humanity and war crimes. This is explained by the fact that since the adoption of the Criminal Code, its provisions have not been systematically harmonized with modern international law. That is, the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the Rome Statute will contribute to its renewal.

The draft law, in particular, proposes to criminalize crimes against humanity. It is also proposed to introduce command responsibility, which means that commanders are responsible for the war crimes of their subordinates, even if they did not commit them personally, but knew about them and ignored such crimes.

In addition, the project envisages increasing the punishment for the crime of aggression to life imprisonment.

• Ukraine signed the Rome Statute on January 20, 2000, but never ratified it, although, after the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, the ratification of this document is one of Ukraineʼs direct international obligations.
• The Rome Statute regulates the work of the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction to prosecute persons responsible for the most serious crimes under international law: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Today, 124 countries are members of the ISS charter.
• Representatives of the academic community, human rights defenders, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, and the European Union have previously appealed to Ukraine to ratify the statute.