20/05/2016 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Although many member States of the Council of Europe have acceded to the Rome Statute, the system created to fight impunity and to complement national jurisdictions needs the support of all States to be fully efficient”, said Alain Destexhe (Belgium, ALDE), at the opening of the hearing on “Co-operation with the International Criminal Court (ICC): towards a concrete and expanded commitment”. The hearing was organised in the framework of the preparation of a report by Mr Destexhe on this subject.
Addressing the participants, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, President of the ICC, indicated that “the Council of Europe can play an important role in strengthening the functioning of the international criminal justice with its expertise and networks relevant for cooperation in criminal law matters as well as legal reform.” Ms Fernández de Gurmendi also raised the issue of resources, recalling that the ICC “requires sufficient resources in order to investigate and prosecute international crimes in an effective manner and provide adequate reparations to victims.”
David Donat Cattin, Secretary-General of ‘Parliamentarians for Global Action’, said that the universality of the Rome Statute of the ICC should be “priority no. 1 within the Council of Europe system [so as to fight] impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern.” Reference was made to constitutional reform in Ukraine, which ought to be finalized permitting the Statute’s ratification without transitional provisions, as well as the need for non-States Parties to ratify the Rome Statute. He added that ratification of the Rome Statute should also be included as one of the factors, by PACE, when it evaluates states’ "Partners for Democracy” status.