Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lawless for his insights, which are valuable and important. Ultimately, this is also about accountability of those who perpetrate crimes of this kind against a civilian population and against a country. There must be accountability under international humanitarian law in the case of what is happening in the Middle East and, likewise, in Ukraine. Part of the challenges here have been that the ICC does not have jurisdiction at the moment over the crime of aggression. While Ukraine signed the Rome Statute of the ICC on 20 January 2000, it has not ratified it, meaning that it is not a state party to the ICC. However, Ukraine accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC with respect to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on its territory since 21 November 2013 by lodging two separate declarations under Article 12(3) of the statute in April 2014 and September 2015. There is an ongoing debate with like-minded countries as to the best forum in respect of this. Under the Rome Statute, the ICC may exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression in Ukraine if the Security Council of the UN refers the situation there to the court. Given Russia's veto on the Security Council, however, that referral is implausible. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter.

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