RATIFICATION OF THE ROME STATUTE IN THE TIME OF GEOPOLITICAL AND LEGAL RECONSIDERATION: MISSION IS (IM)POSSIBLE
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The article examines legal and political narratives regarding the accession of Ukraine to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Ukraine signed it in 2000 but has not ratified it till now (April 2023) due to political tensions and legal (legislative) disparities. The spectrum of applied methods in this research is extensive. The primary research methods used in this article to highlight essential circumventions regarding Ukraine’s full participation in the International Criminal Court’s activities are descriptive and qualitative to comparative.
In this article, the author outlines the importance for every democratic country (which guarantees human rights, the rule of law, and fairness) to be party-state to the International Criminal Court; the paper analyzes its strong and weak sides, challenges, and threats of ratification. Its ratification should revitalize constitutional values (democracy, the rule of law) and human dignity in Ukraine. There reason to conclude that the initiative to create a separate international tribunal should reflect the rule of law principle application de facto and de jure. Justice must be done; it is not only about the susceptible slogans of the Ukrainian leaders addressing our partners but massive and effective legal, legislative, and diplomatic actions. It is about routine war crimes’ investigatory work on a day-to-day basis to identify those who have allegedly committed mass atrocity crimes (i.e., genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression) in Ukraine since 2014, specifically after the full-fledged invasion in 2022, and all perpetrators of international crimes committed in Ukraine should be brought to justice.
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
Abtahi, H., & Webb, P. (2008). The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires (2 vols).
Leiden. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004164185.i-2236.
Akande, D. & Tzanakopoulos, A. (2018). Treaty Law and ICC Jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression. European Journal of International Law, 29(3), 939–959. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chy059
Constitutional Issues raised by Ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court. (2000). Venice Commission, CDL(2000)104-e.
Gnatovsky, M. (2016). Ukraine and the International Criminal Court: a Constitutional Matter. Vox Ukraine.
Hultai, M. (2021). Problems of implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court into national legislation through the prism of the experience of foreign states and Ukraine. Scientific Papers of the Legislation Institute of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 5, 137–139.
Korotky, Т. & Nedilko, B. (2020). Ukraine and the International Criminal Court: twenty complex questions and simple answers. Law Newspaper, 16(722).
Lønne Ring, K. (2023). The Evolution of the Procedure for Reviewing Victim Applications at the International Criminal Court, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 21(1), 29–54, https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqac059.
M. Klamberg (ed.). (2017). Commentary on the Law of the International Criminal Court Brussels: Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher.
Marchuk, I. (2022). Domestic Accountability Efforts in Response to the Russia–Ukraine War: An Appraisal of the First War Crimes Trials in Ukraine. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 20(4), 787–803. https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqac051
Mégret, F. (2018). International Criminal Justice as a Peace Project. European Journal of International Law, 29(3), 835–858. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chy057
On Conformity of the Constitution of Ukraine to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the ‘Rome Statute’ case). (2001). Opinion of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine 3-v/2001.
Pankevych, I. & Sofinska, I. (2019). The Constitutional Court of Ukraine as the main actor in safeguarding of the Constitution. Juridical Tribune – Tribuna Juridica Journal, 9, 77–92.
Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
Pinzauti, G. & Pizzuti, A. (2022). Prosecuting Aggression against Ukraine as an ‘Other Inhumane Act’ before the ICC. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 20(5), November 2022: 1061–1083. https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqac058
Ruys, T. (2018). Criminalizing Aggression: How the Future of the Law on the Use of Force Rests in the Hands of the ICC. European Journal of International Law, 29(3), 887–917. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chy053.
Schabas, W. (2012). Unimaginable Atrocities – Justice, Politics, and Rights at the War Crimes Tribunals. Oxford University Press.
Selivon, M. (2003). Problems of the constitutionality of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Ukrainian Review of International Law, 4, 20–25.
Skomorokha, V. (2003). Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: issues of constitutionality. Ukrainian Review of International Law. 4, 26–35.
Triffterer, O. (2008). Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: observers’ notes article by article. Beck, Hart, Nomos.
Tsiukalo, V. (2014). Regarding Ukraine’s participation in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. National Institute for Strategic Studies. Retrieved from http://www.niss.gov.ua/articles/1471/#_ftn1
van Schaack, B. (1997). The Crime of Political Genocide: Repairing the Genocide Convention’s
Blind Spot. The Yale Law Journal, 7(106), 2259-2291. https://doi.org/10.2307/797169
Weitz, E. (2015). A Century of Genocide: Utopias of Race and Nation. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400866229.
Zadorozhny, O. (2015). Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine. Recognition of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and other international judicial bodies. Espresso.
Zakirova, S. (2021). The Rome Statute for Ukraine: ratification cannot be postponed. Public opinion on lawmaking, 1(206), 4–13.