In a statement issued on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights underlined the importance of this court “as unspeakable atrocities are committed in the heart of Europe once again”.
Dunja Mijatović welcomed the support given to the Court by several Member States in the context of the war in Ukraine (funding, posting of staff, technical assistance), but called for broader mobilisation, particularly with regard to the reception of protected witnesses and their families.
“Practical support is needed”, she says.
She also called on the few Council of Europe member states that have not yet done so to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC.
Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine are among them. However, the latter recognised the jurisdiction of the ICC in 2014 for a limited period of time and in 2015 for an unlimited period of time, allowing the ICC Prosecutor to open an investigation as early as 3 March 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian armed aggression in Ukraine.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the entry into force of the Rome Statute, Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, pledged continued political and financial support for the Court and intensified cooperation with this “permanent criminal judicial institution of universal character established to prosecute the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole”.
Link to the statement of the Commissioner for Human Rights: https://aeur.eu/f/2fz
Link to the statement of the EU High Representative: https://aeur.eu/f/2g4 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)