Latest on the war in Ukraine
BRUSSELS, Dec. 9 (.) –
The member states of the European Union have advocated this Friday to increase judicial cooperation with international courts such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) to guarantee that war crimes are prosecuted in Ukraine and that there is no impunity for them.
In joint conclusions, the Twenty-seven are committed to promoting joint investigations and allowing “close judicial cooperation” with international courts and other investigative mechanisms such as the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine established by the UN Human Rights Council.
They also indicate the commitment to support the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office to strengthen its capacity to investigate international crimes, in addition to increasing cooperation with actors such as Europol or Eurojust, in addition to the EU military mission in Ukraine, for this purpose.
At the national level, the EU insists on the creation of units specialized in international crimes, ensuring their operational capacity and financial sustainability, in such a way that they can contribute to the investigation and prosecution of this type of crime at the national level.
Likewise, the countries of the bloc demand the participation of the victims, as well as their protection and support, and ask to create the opportunity for Ukrainian refugees in the EU to provide their testimony as victims or witnesses of international crimes.
The conclusions ask that all member states apply the definition of international crimes contained in the Rome Statute, which provides for aggression as a crime to be prosecuted, but its definition was not supported by all parties, which prevents it from exercising jurisdiction over the.
The European Commission proposed a few weeks ago that “without ceasing to support the TPI”, progress towards the creation of a “specialized court” backed by the United Nations, a measure that European sources indicate that this initiative is not ruled out and is being discussed in the within the foreign policy of the EU.
