"File:Euromaidan 01.JPG" by Evgeny Feldman is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .

Ratified EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is Fresh Impulse Towards Rome Statute Ratification by Ukraine

On Tuesday, the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv simultaneously ratified the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Two articles in the Association Agreement deserve highlighting because of their strong support for Ukraine to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Title III, Art. 24.3:

"As regards judicial cooperation in criminal matters, the Parties shall seek to enhance arrangements on mutual legal assistance and extradition. This would include, where appropriate, accession to, and implementation of, the relevant international instruments of the United Nations and the Council of Europe, as well as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 1998 as referred to in Article 8 of this Agreement, and closer cooperation with Eurojust."

and

Title II, Art. 8 - International Criminal Court:

“The Parties shall cooperate in promoting peace and international justice by ratifying and implementing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) of 1998 and its related instruments.”

Read the full text of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

The agreement will enter into effect on 1 November 2014. Though in a compromise, the titles on Trade and Trade related articles, a key measure in the agreement were delayed from taking effect for over a year in order to assuage Russian fears.

In order to promote the ratification of the Rome Statute by Ukraine, PGA has co-organized this week a visit to The Hague and the International Criminal Court by a Delegation of Members of the Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, the Parliament of Ukraine.

The visit to the ICC included meetings with the President, Judge Sang-Hyun Song and the Registrar, Herman von Hebel.  Meetings were also conducted with the Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart and the President of the Assembly of States Parties H.E. Tiina Intelmann.

Ukraine signed the Rome Statute on 20 January 2000 and ratified the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court on 29 January 2007, becoming the first non-State Party – in so doing - to accede to the latter Agreement.