The Rome Statute was ratified in Ukraine. MPs of the Verkhovna Rada voted for the ratification of the Rome Statute by 281 votes (draft law No. 0285 ).
The MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported this.
The day before, the draft law on the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was supported by the parliamentary committee on foreign policy.
The Rome Statute is an international treaty that became the basis for the creation of ICC and defined the list of crimes that the court has the right to investigate: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression.
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.
Ukraine has now become a full member of the International Criminal Court, which will simplify access for Ukrainians to the special Trust Fund of the International Criminal Court for victims, and this will increase the chances of receiving compensation for victims of Russian crimes. This will also protect the Ukrainian military. The fact that the statute was ratified does not mean creating a risk of bringing the Ukrainian military and other citizens to justice, because ICC can already do that — Ukraine recognized its jurisdiction on November 21, 2013.
In addition, Ukraine will be able to defend its interests in ICC, in particular by working in the Assembly of States participating in ICC, nominating its candidate for the position of judge and participating in the selection of judges and the prosecutor of the Court.
Ukraine planned to ratify the statute with a statement that the International Criminal Court would not have jurisdiction under Art. 8 (war crimes) against citizens of Ukraine within 7 years after ratification.
- 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 those 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 ICC 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.