Ratification of Rome Statute to Be Part of Ukraine’s Accession to EU – Prosecutor General

Ukraine is ready to ratify the Rome Statute and will do so in the near future, on its path to the EU accession.

"My position is absolutely clear: Ukraine will ratify the Rome Statute and become part of the family of members of the Rome Statute and the ICC. I hope it gets approved sooner or later. Practically, our country is ready to do this. The only question is when the parliament will be ready to vote," Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin in The Hague stated at a press conference on the occasion of the launch of the International Centre for the Investigation of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

According to the Prosecutor General, the Rome Statute will be ratified in a package of decisions approved on the way to the EU "in the near future."

"I hope that within the framework of our very rapid development in the process of joining the European Union, this will be an integral part of the package that Ukraine will ratify and approve in the near future," the Prosecutor General said.

He also recalled that Ukraine has already introduced domestic legislation, which provides the ICC and the office of the Prosecutor of the ICC with all the powers to investigate and prosecute all international crimes committed in Ukraine during the Russian aggression.

123 states are parties to the Rome Statute. China, India, Belarus, Turkey, Kazakhstan, among others, have not signed or ratified the charter. Russia, like the United States, signed the charter, but subsequently withdrew its signature.

Ukraine is also not a party to the Rome Statute, the international agreement on the basis of which the International Criminal Court was established and operates. However, Ukraine gave the International Criminal Court the right to investigate crimes on its territory.