A positive note marked the beginning of the year for the fight against impunity: on 26 January, both Sweden and Italy deposited their instruments of ratification of the Kampala amendments to the Rome Statute of the ICC on the Crime of Aggression and War Crimes, thus bringing the number of signatories to 43 States. PGA and its members, whose respective national groups strongly supported the process, unanimously welcomed such a significant development. Ensuring the universality of the crime of aggression – “the supreme international crime” – through the ratification of the Kampala amendments is essential to advance international criminal justice and guarantee accountability for this crime. The threats posed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty since 2014 – leading to a war of aggression since 24 February and other heinous crimes – is a blatant violation of the UN Charter and a tragic illustration of the necessity to intensify the international community’s efforts to prevent more human rights violations and achieve accountability. PGA, therefore, continues to call and encourage States to uphold their international commitments to human rights, justice, and the Rule of Law by ratifying the Rome Statute and all its amendments. The PGA secretariat has prepared a dedicated page with detailed information on the “War in Ukraine” and actions that its members have taken to support parliamentarians and people in Ukraine.

Significant progress was also made in Guinea Bissau following the official visit of the ICC President, Judge Piotr Hofmański, facilitated by PGA on 19-20 April. On this occasion, fruitful discussions were held with relevant stakeholders, including the President of the Republic, H.E. Umaro Sissoco Embaló, the President of the National Assembly and PGA member, H.E. Cipriano Cassamá; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and PGA member, H.E. Suzi Barbosa. For several years now, PGA has been working hand in hand with its members to promote the ratification of the Rome Statute in the country, which signed the treaty in 2000, but has yet to ratify it. These meetings took place just before the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Sissoco Embaló on 16 May – a decision that appears to deepen the political crisis in which the country has found itself since 2019. Nevertheless, such an official visit represented a critical moment to continue fostering mutual understanding around the importance of ratifying and implementing the Rome Statute.

On 26-27 April 2022, PGA followed with great interest the historic hearings held in Colombia before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP), where 11 military officials recognized their responsibility for killing more than 100 civilians in the context of the decades-long armed conflict – a case also known as the “falsos positivos.” The measures taken by Colombia to work for peace on the one hand while delivering justice, on the other hand, have been a crucial step for victims and survivors of the gravest crimes to see the violations they have suffered recognized before judicial proceedings and obtain redress for the damages caused. This progress, among others, has signaled that the principle of complementarity – a cornerstone of the entire Rome Statute system based on the primacy of domestic jurisdictions and considerations of efficiency and effectiveness – is working in Colombia. The recent presentation of the Truth Commission’s final report, the opening of a new macro case for grave violations of International Humanitarian Law, committed by “Las FARC-EP,” and the recent charges against 22 army officials (links available in Spanish) constitute further proof of the acknowledgment and progress to restore the fundamental rights of the millions of victims and survivors of Colombia’s armed conflict.

Whereas the human rights and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan continue to deteriorate drastically, on 30 May, PGA organized a third Roundtable, focusing on “Supporting Afghan Nationals on the Ground and in Exile.” Gathering parliamentarians from several regions worldwide, representatives from the civil society, and relevant stakeholders, the discussion resulted in concrete action points that touch upon four main priorities: (i) the general support for Afghanistan from the international community and members of parliaments all over the world; (ii) the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan; (iii) the rights of Afghans to seek asylum; and (iv) the fight against impunity. The more time elapses, the more urgent it becomes to provide adequate responses to the deep and overlapping crises converging in the country. Therefore, these action points were thought to be used by legislators, experts, government officials, and other stakeholders worldwide as an instrument to better assist Afghans within or outside Afghanistan.

Finally, PGA is already actively preparing its 43rd  Annual Forum dedicated to the 12th  Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians on the International Criminal Court and the Rule of Law (CAP-ICC), which this year will be hosted by the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina on 4-5 November 2022, in a hybrid format with in-person and online participation. The CAP-ICC is the only high-level global gathering of political leaders focused solely on international justice and the Rule of Law. Since 2002, its meetings have represented a unique opportunity for lawmakers from all regions of the world to discuss and develop strategies for reinforcing international and domestic justice and preventing international crimes. The event will also include PGA’s Defender of Democracy Award ceremony. Click here to register online and get further information on the event.

Despite relentless work with its Ukrainian members to foster the ratification of the Rome Statute and to ensure its effective domestication into the Ukrainian legal framework, PGA continues observing with great concern the developments occurring in the country over the past months. As early as 21 January, together with our Ukrainian partner, the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), PGA wrote a joint letter to President Zelensky, which reiterated previous calls urging Ukrainian leaders to take decisive action by ratifying the Rome Statute and promulgating the Law 1164-IX “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the implementation of provisions of international criminal law and humanitarian law” (Bill no. 2689), adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 20 May 2021.

Yet, on 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a blatant act of aggression and violation of the UN Charter and customary international law. Immediately on the day of the invasion, PGA condemned in the strongest terms the premeditated, unjustified, and unjustifiable military attack of the Russian Federation against Ukraine’s sovereignty and stayed closed to its members to provide adequate support and assistance.

Although the war is still ongoing, PGA strongly believes that it is of utmost importance to activate the relevant instruments to provide accountability for the gravest crimes committed in Ukraine’s territory and bring perpetrators to justice. Given the opening on 2nd March of the investigation into the situation in Ukraine by the ICC Prosecutor following the referral by 43 States Parties, PGA called on States to increase their support for the ICC, including providing financial support to the Court and amending their jurisdictional requirements on the crime of aggression. However, while an increasing number of reports are evidencing the commission of atrocity crimes and massive violations of International Humanitarian Law in Bucha, Mariupol, and other locations in Ukraine, PGA joined the forceful statement issued by Ukrainian civil society organizations to denounce the alleged commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of ecocide. With the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada on 3 May 2022 of a new Law on the Amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine, which establishes a direct mechanism of cooperation of the Ukrainian prosecutorial and judicial authorities with the ICC, on 5 May, PGA repeated its call to President Zelensky and Ukrainian Members of Parliament to proceed with the ratification of the Rome Statute.

In the face of the pressing humanitarian situation and the urgent need to support Ukrainian society, PGA also facilitated discussions with Ukrainian MPs to intensify global solidarity and reflect on available means to bring perpetrators to justice, including those at the top of the command chain. Together with the Canadian Parliamentary Centre and the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, PGA co-organized a global parliamentary dialogue on 12 May with members of parliament from Brazil, Canada, and Malaysia, to provide a safe space for Ukrainian legislators to express their needs and perspectives and reflect on what can be done to enhance national, regional, and international cooperation.

On 30 June, and to push the call for justice in Ukraine further, PGA organized a visit to the International Criminal Court led by its active members from the Verkhovna Rada, Ms. Maryna Bardina (Deputy Chairperson, Committee on Foreign Policy and Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation), and Mr. Denys Maslov (Member of the Committee on Legal Policy). The delegation, accompanied by Senator Boris Dittrich (the Netherlands), convenor of PGA’s Rome Statute Campaign, was received by the ICC President, Judge Piotr Hofmański, before meeting with representatives of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP). Thanks to Senator Boris Dittrich’s good offices, the delegation also engaged in meaningful discussions with Ambassador Henk Cor van der Kwast, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the ICC. These discussions not only allowed Ms. Bardina and Mr. Maslov to underline their commitment to cooperate closely with the ICC and raise awareness around the importance of ratifying the Rome Statute but also enabled clarifying matters that can help Members of the Rada to improve the legislation on cooperation with the ICC.

As PGA continues monitoring the developments in Ukraine with great concern, more efforts will be devoted to promoting the ratification of the Rome Statute and its effective implementation to ensure that there will be no impunity for mass atrocity crimes. In this spirit, although PGA supports other initiatives to ensure that perpetrators of the crime of aggression will be held to account, it has developed a proposal to partially align the ICC jurisdictional regime on this crime to the one that already exists for the three other core crimes, which would therefore give jurisdiction to the ICC to prosecute this crime.

A vital aspect of the PGA’s Rome Statute Campaign relies on its outreach activities to promote the Rome Statute system. The PGA Secretariat, represented by Dr. David Donat Cattin, PGA Secretary General, and Ms. Frederika Schweighoferova, Director of the Rome Statute Campaign, took part in a project in cooperation with the Harvard Law School (HLS) aimed at increasing the efficiency and legitimacy of the ICC, for which they authored three reports touching upon different topics ranging from creating hybrid chambers, to the crime of ecocide, and trafficking in human beings. They later had the opportunity to present their proposals and discuss possibilities to amend the Rome Statute on these topics during a webinar organized by the HLS in cooperation with PGA on 4 March 2022.

On 18 May, the PGA Secretariat also participated in an event hosted by the Permanent Representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the European Union in Brussels, organized ahead of the Commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Rome Statute. The event brought together representatives of the ICC non-States parties, during which the President of the ICC, Judge Piotr Hofmański, the President of the Assembly of States Parties, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, Virginie Amato from the CICC Secretariat, and Ms. Frederika Schweighoferova representing the PGA Secretariat, addressed questions underlining the importance of strengthening the universality of the Rome Statute system.

Finally, on 16 June, the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the Organization of American States (OAS) held its Technical Working Meeting to strengthen cooperation with the ICC, during which OAS representatives, State delegations, ICC representatives – including Judge Piotr Hofmański, Asambleísta Mauricio Zambrano (PGA member from Ecuador), and civil society organizations, exchanged views on effectively supporting the Rome Statute system.

This event represented a crucial opportunity to discuss the universality of the Rome Statute in Latin America, where countries are particularly engaged and cooperate actively with the ICC. Asambleísta Zambrano’s intervention mainly focused on issues related to the improvement of the quality, professionalism, and independence of ICC judges, convinced of the necessity to ensure a fair, public, transparent, merit-based national nomination process of candidates for ICC judicial positions – elements all the more critical given that in 2023 there will be a judicial election at the ICC.