Still 13 states in Europe and the former Soviet Union have not ratified the Court’s Statute, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Holy See, Kazakhstan, Kingdom of Monaco, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

While 20 European countries have fully implemented the Rome Statute provisions into national legislation and another 15 have partially done so, many more have not yet implemented the Rome Statute at all.

Call to ratify Court’s Statute
NGOs recall the importance for all European states to enact legislation to allow national systems to exercise jurisdiction over ICC crimes and to provide the Court with the necessary cooperation and assistance.

They also call on all countries in Europe that have not yet done so to ratify or accede to the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the ICC (APIC) so as to allow the Court to function in an effective and unconditional manner.

“The EU should continue to provide assistance to countries in the path to ratification and implementation of the Rome Statute and the APIC, as mandated by the EU Common Position and EU Action Plan on the ICC,” said Veaceslav Tofan of the Moldovan Coalition for the ICC.

Issued just a few weeks before the opening of the first ICC review conference of the Rome Statute, the Pristina declaration further encouraged European countries to participate in the conference at the highest level possible as well as to make concrete pledges in advance of and during the conference, including tangible commitments in terms of ratification and implementation of the Rome Statute and the APIC, cooperation and support to the ICC.

An ICC review conference is scheduled to take place in Kampala, Uganda 31 May-10 June 2010, to consider amendments to the Rome Statute and to take stock of its implementation and impact.

Background
The ICC is the world’s first permanent international court to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. There are currently 111 ICC States Parties.

Central to the Court’s mandate is the principle of complementarity, which holds that the Court will only intervene if national legal systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute. To date, the ICC has opened investigations in five situations and it has publicly issued twelve arrest warrants and one summons to appear. Two trials are ongoing and a third is expected to open in July 2010.

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor has made public that it is also examining at least eight other situations on four continents including Afghanistan, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Georgia, Guinea and Palestine.

For more information on CICC’s campaigns in the region, see here.