Did you know that Ukraine signed the Rome Statute back in 2000? However, the document, which will extend the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to war crimes, aggression and genocide committed in Ukraine, has not yet been ratified.

The ratification of the Rome Statute provides more mechanisms for investigating war crimes and bringing to justice the highest political and military leadership of Russia. In addition, it is Ukraine's obligation under the Association Agreement with the EU.

But this requires harmonising the provisions of national legislation, including the Criminal Code.

This was the aim of the draft law No. 2689 ‘On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Implementation of International Criminal and Humanitarian Law’, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 20 May 2021. To date, this Law is awaiting the President's signature.

Instead, on 15.04.2022, the CMU registered Draft Law No. 7290, which in fact completely duplicates the provisions of the adopted Law, with the exception of the provisions on the establishment of universal jurisdiction and command responsibility for war crimes, as well as some other provisions.

This decision is rather a compromise aimed at removing those provisions that do not allow the President to sign the Law and, at the same time, at adopting the necessary changes that will bring Ukraine closer to the ratification of the Rome Statute.

However, civil society opposed the adoption of draft law No. 7290. The Euromaidan SOS initiative, the Centre for Civil Liberties and 26 other organisations signed an appeal regarding the shortcomings of the government's draft law and demanding that the President sign the already adopted law.

The Institute has analysed the new legislative initiative in detail. What is proposed to be changed in the Criminal Code and what the public is against, read in the ILI conclusion: https://izi.institute/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/7290.pdf