The PGA Ukraine National Group offers to host the 10th Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians for the ICC & the Rule of Law in 2018

On 2-5 October 2017, the Secretary General of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) conducted a field mission to Kyiv, Ukraine, to advance the process towards full implementation and ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC by Ukraine. After the Euro-Maidan protests and the political transformation of 2014, Ukraine accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC “ad hoc”, in respect of the situation of armed conflict and alleged crimes committed in its territories since 2014, and the Parliament amended the Constitution in order to allow the ICC to be a jurisdictional entity recognized by the domestic legal order, in accordance with Article 124 of the Ukrainian Constitution.

However, the specific constitutional amendment to para. 6 of Article 124, adopted in June 2016 and entered into force in September 2016 within the framework of a constitutional reform package tabled by the Presidency of the Republic, will only enter into effect three years after its adoption or entry into force, namely, in the II half of the year 2019, due a transitional provision that created controversy among Parliamentarians, jurists and human rights activists at the end of 2015. Until then, there is a constitutional obstacle to Ukraine’s membership in the Rome Statute system.

PGA’s Secretary-General Dr. David Donat Cattin met with the Deputy Minister of Justice in charge of European Integration and International Cooperation Mr. Sergiy Petukhov, human rights advocates of partner NGO “Center for Civil Liberties” (CCL), representatives of the EU Delegation to Ukraine (European External Action Service) and, last but not least, the PGA Ukraine National Group.

Dr. Donat Cattin also participated in a Press Briefing with the Chair of the Board the Helsinki Committee Ukrainian Union, Mr. Oleksandr Pavlichenko, and the Deputy Chair of the Board of CCL, Ms. Oleksandra Romantsov, on the theme “Crimes against humanity and war crimes: When does individual criminal responsibility come into play?”

The Chair of the PGA Ukraine National Group, Hon. Grigory Nemyria, MP (Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee) and leading PGA Member Hon. Svitlana Zaleychuk, MP (Ukraine-European Parliament Joint Committee) agreed to continue the PGA campaign to promote Ukraine’s full adherence to and ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC, and reiterated the offer to host in Kyiv PGA’s 10th Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians on the ICC & the Rule of Law (CAP-ICC) in the last trimester of 2018. This event is the largest gathering of Parliamentarians exclusively devoted to the fight against impunity and the prevention of the most serious crimes of concern to the International Community as a whole. The 10th CAP-ICC's calendarization in Kyiv in 2018 will represent a significant deadline for all stakeholders and decision-makers to advance the following concrete objectives ahead of the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections:

1. Continued effective cooperation of Ukraine with the ICC, especially via the consideration and adoption by the Rada of the Draft Law on Cooperation with the ICC, which the Executive transmitted to Parliament on 4 October 2017, the day of the meetings of the PGA SG with the Deputy Minister of Justice (main drafter of the Bill) and of the PGA Ukraine National Group – See http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=62671 and https://ukranews.com/en/news/522424-cabinet-suggesting-rada-allow-icc-to-investigate-crimes-committed-in-ukraine-upon-own-initiative

2. Renewed calls to the Executive to transmit to Parliament the Draft Law to implement the provisions on Crimes and General Principles of Law of the Rome Statute, which shall give effect to the principle of complementarity and empower Ukrainian judicial institutions to apply the correct qualifications and principles to alleged atrocity-crimes. This Draft Law on complementarity is currently under revision by the Council of Ministers of Ukraine. Such a draft should reflect the essential components of a legislative project drafted by a group of prominent academics and NGOs’ experts convened by CCL and “Human Rights Agenda”. The draft was launched in a PGA Seminar held at the Rada in July 2016, where all Parliamentarians and experts made strong appeals to the Government against any dilution of the text of the Draft Law.

3. Make all necessary preparations, advocacy and dissemination of information regarding the imperative for Ukraine to join the Rome Statute system as soon as the constitutional framework will allow for such a bold step in combating impunity. In this respect, it must be noted that all Ukrainian political parties and Members of Parliament voted unanimously to adopt the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in 2014, which contains a clear commitment for Ukraine to join the Rome Statute and to enhance cooperation with EU in this regard [see Articles 8 and 24 at http://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/4589a50c-e6e3-11e3-8cd4-01aa75ed71a1.0006.03/DOC_1 ].

A major step towards the realization of this three-fold strategy is marked by the special joint meeting of the Ukrainian Rada Human Rights Committee and the European Parliament Human Rights Sub-Committee on 12 October 2017 in Brussels, which will include an analysis of the situation(s) of armed conflict and connected gross violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law affecting Ukraine, as well as the imperative to protect the right of minorities. Chairperson Grigory Neymria, MP and PGA Member Iryna Suslova, MP, are part of the Ukrainian delegation to Brussels, where they will also meet with PGA Board Member and Human Rights Sub-Committee Vice-Chair Ms. Barbara Lochbihler, MEP (Germany). [See Agenda of EP-Ukraine Rada Human Rights Committees Meeting].