Ukraine submitted to the UN secretariat the instrument of ratification regarding Ukraineʼs accession to the Rome Statute.
This was reported by Iryna Mudra, Deputy Head of the Office of the President for Legal Affairs.
"Now the Rome Statute is finally with Ukraine. It was a difficult path, but we passed it and we are proud of this achievement," she said.
This means that as of January 1, 2025, Ukraine will officially join the Rome Statute.
What does this mean
The Rome Statute is an international treaty that became the basis for the creation of the 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.
On August 24, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the law on the ratification of the Rome Statute.
And on October 22, Zelensky signed into law No. 11484, which brings the Criminal Code of Ukraine into compliance with the norms of the Rome Statute. In particular, the law criminalizes crimes against humanity and introduces command responsibility, meaning that commanders will be held responsible for the war crimes of their subordinates, even if they did not personally commit them, but knew about them and ignored them.
The law also provides for an increase in the term of punishment for the crime of aggression to life imprisonment.
Why Ukraine ratified the Rome Statute
First, this requirement is in the Association Agreement with the EU. If Ukraine wants to join the European Union, the statute had to be ratified.
It is also necessary so that opponents do not accuse Ukraine of double standards. In particular, it now requires other countries to comply with ICC warrants for the arrest of a number of Russian high-ranking officials, including Vladimir Putin, when it itself has not ratified the statute.
In addition, ratification is required so that Ukrainian victims of Russian crimes can receive compensation from the special special purpose fund of the International Criminal Court. After the ratification, Ukraine got the opportunity to influence the distribution of funds of the fund.
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