Amid ongoing Russian-Ukraine conflict the International Criminal Court Prosecutor has taken the decision to proceed an investigation into the critical situation going on in Ukraine. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is established for four international crimes those are : genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crime of aggression. Regarding the situation in Ukraine the Rome Statute will observe war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Court will observe if there is any “reasonable basis” to believe that war crimes have been committed. The court will observe crimes committed by any party on any part of Ukraine.
Prosecutor Karim AA Khan said, “given the expansion of the conflict in recent days, it is my intention that this Investigation will also encompass any new alleged crimes falling within the jurisdiction of my office that are committed by any party to the conflict on any part of the territory of Ukraine.”
It is also mentioned that Ukraine has filed an application before the ICC (International Criminal Court) seeking measures against Russian invasion. After the application filed, the ICC has decided to open an investigation into the situation.
The statement of Karim A.A. Khan on the situation in Ukraine was, “Ukraine is not a State Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) , so cannot itself refer the situation to my Office. But it has twice exercised its prerogatives to legally accept the Court’s jurisdiction over alleged crimes under the Rome Statute occurring on its territory, should the Court choose to exercise it. The first declaration lodged by the Government of Ukraine accepted ICC jurisdiction with respect to alleged crimes committed on Ukrainian territory from 21 November 2013 to 22 February 2014. The second declaration extended this time period on an open-ended basis to encompass ongoing alleged crimes committed throughout the territory of Ukraine from 20 February 2014 onwards”.