Government Approves Draft Agreement on Establishment of Office of International Criminal Court in Ukraine

The Government of Ukraine approved a draft Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the International Criminal Court on the establishment of the Office of the International Criminal Court in Ukraine.

The Agreement aims to facilitate the establishment and proper functioning of the Office of the International Criminal Court in Ukraine whose main focus is the investigation into cases pending before the Court since the start of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014.

The International Criminal Court has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Ukraine recognises the jurisdiction of the Court to identify, prosecute, and try the perpetrators and accomplices of acts committed in the territory of Ukraine during the Revolution of Dignity, as well as crimes committed in the territory of Ukraine since 20 February 2014, in accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

As a reminder, on 26 January, representatives of 21 countries gathered in Prague for the founding meeting of the Coalition for the Creation of the Special Tribunal, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to work out the parameters for holding the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation to account for the crime of aggression against our country.

On 22 February, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine gathered 45 countries for a high-level UN event dedicated to human rights violations during the Russian aggression, one of the key topics of which was the creation of the Special Tribunal.

Following the negotiations of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba in New York, Guatemala became the first country in Latin America to join the Coalition for the Establishment of the Special Tribunal.

Natalia Tolub