The Hague/New York/Kyiv
Leaders of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) and its Ukrainian civil society partner, the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), have written a letter to the President of the Republic of Ukraine, Mr. Zelenskyi, urging him to take decisive action towards Ukrainian membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to ensure the effective domestication of International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law into the Ukrainian legal framework.
As Russian troops are amassing at the borders of Ukraine, including in neighboring Belarus and the Black Sea, threatening an invasion that would have devastating effects for the civilian population and create immense victimization, Ukraine can decide to finally join the treaty that establishes the first permanent international jurisdiction for the most serious international crimes, the Rome Statute of the ICC, with headquarters in The Hague.
Even if Ukraine has committed to this step in the legally binding EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and already amended the Constitution to accept the ICC jurisdiction since 2019, it has not taken action yet. PGA and CCL have urged President Zelenskyi to send the ICC ratification dossier to the Parliament (the Verkhovna Rada) so that Ukraine commits for good to the prevention and prosecution of the most serious crimes of international concern: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Should this happen, the leaders of the Russian Federation shall be on notice that if atrocity crimes were to be committed in Ukrainian territories under International Law (including Crimea and the Donbas), the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction regardless of the official capacity or immunities of the alleged perpetrators.
In order to equip Ukrainian domestic courts with the best possible legal tools to prosecute international crimes, the PGA-CCL letter also calls on President Zelenskyi to sign and promulgate Law No. 1164 - IX of May 2021, which incorporates into Ukrainian Law all the norms and principles of International Law pertaining to international crimes.
Ukraine must now better protect itself, its population, its territorial integrity and political independence, as well as its membership within the global community of States who believe in the Rule of Law, justice, democracy, and human rights.
The letter was signed by the new President of PGA, Hon. (Ms.) Kasthuri Patto MP (Malaysia), by the new Convenor of PGA International Law and Human Rights Program, Sen. Boris Dittrich (The Netherlands), and the Chairperson of CCL, Ms. Oleksandra Matviychuk.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Ms.Frederika Schweighoferova: – Director, Rome Statute of the ICC Campaign, PGA
Ms. Oleksandra Matviychuk: Chairwoman, Centre for Civil Liberties
