Виступ делегації України під час дебатів ГА ООН щодо роботи МКС

Mr. President,

The International Criminal Court is the only permanent international court established in order to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of international concern and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes as well as to the progressive development of international criminal law.

We welcome steady progress of the Court dealing currently with more cases and situations than ever. We appreciate the ICC’s work on examining the situation over crimes against humanity and war crimes in Ukraine following our declarations under Article 12 (3) of the Rome Statute and look forward to its outcome. Ukraine also hails the Court’s recent judgements on offences against the administration of justice and the war crime consisting in attacking objects of the world heritage. It is important that the Court could intervene in situations where violence is underway.

What we particularly need is the ICC’s capacity to fully exercise its deterring role, as Ukraine is affected by hostile and aggressive actions of the Russian Federation, with thousands of military and civilian population, including women and children, killed, wounded or gone missing, as well as with over a million internally displaced persons. In this regard, we cannot overestimate States’ cooperation in combating serious crimes.

Ukraine actively participated in the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, signed the Rome Statute and was the first non-State Party to ratify the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the ICC. However, the Rome Statute provisions on the complementarity of the Court were in contradiction to the Constitution of Ukraine. Today we are pleased to announce that the Ukrainian Parliament has recently adopted a constitutional amendment paving the way for Ukraine eventually to ratify the Rome Statute. Elaboration of the implementation legislation is actively on its way.

With this in mind, we are particularly concerned over a recent withdrawal from the Rome Statute by a number of African countries. We echo the President of the Assembly of States Parties, Mr. Sidiki Kaba, in his comment that the international community must remain united to face the enormous challenge of preventing the commission of most serious crimes, prosecuting the alleged perpetrators, whoever they are and wherever they are, to ensure peace, stability and security in the world. The international community must remain consolidated in its strong support of the ICC’s efforts to ensure the right to universal justice to all victims of mass crimes.

In this context, it is of paramount importance that 32 States Parties have already ratified the Kampala amendment on the crime of aggression. We look forward to a decision of the Assembly of States Parties to activate the relevant Court’s jurisdiction in the nearest future. However, we regret the restricted scope of the ICC’s potential power over such situations, with no jurisdiction over non-states or Rome Statute parties that do not ratify the amendment unless being referred to by the UN Security Council.

Still, we put our trust into the Court, which has already established itself as an efficient universal mechanism to promote the rule of law and to ensure that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished. By failing to bring those responsible for worst crimes to justice, we provoke violence in the rest of the world. All those committing gravest international crimes must be sure of the inevitability of punishment irrespective of their position or nationality.

Thank you, Mr. President.