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Co-operation with the International Criminal Court: towards a concrete and expanded commitment

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 13888 | 30 September 2015

Signatories:
Mr Alain DESTEXHE, Belgium, ALDE ; Ms Theodora BAKOYANNIS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Irakli CHIKOVANI, Georgia, ALDE ; Mr Joseph DEBONO GRECH, Malta, SOC ; Mr Arcadio DÍAZ TEJERA, Spain, SOC ; Mr Kancho FILIPOV, Bulgaria, ALDE ; Ms Adele GAMBARO, Italy, ALDE ; Mr Francesco Maria GIRO, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Hamid HAMID, Bulgaria, ALDE ; Mr Gediminas JAKAVONIS, Lithuania, ALDE ; Mr Carles JORDANA MADERO, Andorra, ALDE ; Ms Ksenija KORENJAK KRAMAR, Slovenia, ALDE ; Mr Philippe MAHOUX, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Thierry MARIANI, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Meritxell MATEU PI, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Jean-Claude MIGNON, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Ms Judith PALLARÉS CORTÉS, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Andrea RIGONI, Italy, ALDE ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Ms Petra De SUTTER, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Chiora TAKTAKISHVILI, Georgia, ALDE

The will of the parliamentary Assembly to co-operate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) has already been expressed many times, the last time being in Resolution 1644 (2009). This resolution called, inter alia, for a universal ratification of the Rome Statute as well as its effective implementation into national laws. Six years later, the motion has still not been embodied.

Without any police or public forces, for the ICC to be efficient, it needs to be highly legitimate and therefore a maximum of States must be part of the Rome Statute system. This is especially important in the current circumstances, as the integrity of the Rome Statute is challenged by those who want to re-establish the immunity of Heads of State.

The International Criminal Court suffers also from the lack of co-operation of other organisations.

Considering that this co-operation is of the utmost importance, in light of the crucial role of the International Criminal Court to fight against impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocides contributing thus to the prevention and the non-repetition of those crimes – the Assembly should:

  • proceed to do an evaluation of the ratification and implementation of the Resolution 1644 (2009) by the member States of the Council of Europe;
  • based on this evaluation, make recommendations to the member States on the deficiencies of their co-operation with the International Criminal Court;
  • make recommendations to the member States to consider the International Criminal Court as a complementary jurisdiction and set up the necessary framework at the national level in order to fight against impunity for the crimes over which the Court has jurisdiction.