International Criminal Court marks 20th anniversary
July 17 is World International Justice Day, also known as International Criminal Justice Day or International Justice Day. It is an international day celebrated around the world as part of efforts to recognize the new system of international criminal justice.
On July 17, 1998, the Rome Statute was concluded - the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, which is located in the city of The Hague - the first ever permanent body of international justice, which has jurisdiction directly on the basis of international law to bring relevant persons to criminal responsibility for the most serious crimes.
It is with the International Criminal Court that the progressive and democratic world community hopes for justice and an end to impunity for those who massively disregard human life, dignity and other fundamental human rights and freedoms, regardless of the reasons the criminals try to justify their actions.
The Rome Statute entered into force in July 2002 after being ratified by sixty member states, and this year the international community is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the International Criminal Court.
So far, 106 states have ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute.
Among the signatory countries of the Rome Statute is Ukraine, which, however, has not yet ratified this international act.
At the same time, Ukraine today is a country where the need for international justice is felt very much. It is common knowledge that for the eighth year in a row Ukraine has suffered from Russian aggression, which on February 24, 2022 turned into a full-scale war. Hundreds of international crimes recorded since the beginning of the Russian invasion clearly require effective measures to be taken to investigate them and bring the perpetrators to justice not only at the national level, but also at the highest international level.
The International Criminal Court received a request from 39 member states to investigate the situation in Ukraine due to Russia's attack, and on March 2 of this year, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced the start of gathering evidence for the most serious international crimes committed during the full-scale invasion of the Russian army on the territory of Ukraine.
The entry into force of the sixth part of Article 124 of the Constitution of Ukraine on June 30, 2019 finally allows Ukraine to fully participate in the development of an effective system of international criminal justice through the ratification of the Rome Statute, because in the conditions of all - covering the globalization of the world, international justice also needs globalization.