Debate: The establishment of a tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine
Date: TUESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2023
Speaker: Didier Reynders
Language: EN

Mais le 24 février 2022, il y a près d’un an, a débuté le plus grand conflit armé international qu’a connu le continent européen depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale. La Russie, membre permanent du Conseil de sécurité, a violé d’une manière flagrante l’une des pierres angulaires du droit international, à savoir l’interdiction du recours à la force dans les relations internationales. Dans le contexte de cette agression armée, les crimes les plus graves sont régulièrement commis en Ukraine. De nombreuses personnes sont victimes d’atrocités qui défient l’imagination, nous venons encore d’en débattre. Le Parlement européen, dans sa résolution de mai de l’année dernière, a clairement exprimé sa plus vive indignation face à ces atrocités. Vous venez encore de le répéter. Votre assemblée avait aussi appelé les institutions de l’Union à soutenir la coordination des différents mécanismes mis en place pour lutter contre l’impunité des crimes internationaux commis en Ukraine. Je souhaite rappeler l’engagement sans faille de la Commission afin de garantir que des crimes d’une telle gravité ne puissent rester impunis et que leurs poursuites pénales soient effectivement assurées. Depuis le début du conflit, la Commission s’est investie pour que la justice internationale puisse faire son travail, et cela dans le cadre de plusieurs initiatives concernant les enquêtes sur les crimes internationaux. D’abord, nous continuons à offrir un soutien sans faille aux autorités ukrainiennes, et notamment au procureur général ukrainien, qui ont reçu pour l’heure plus de 60 000 signalements de la part de victimes et de témoins en lien avec des crimes internationaux. Ensuite, quatorze États membres ont lancé des enquêtes pour de tels faits. Eurojust et Europol jouent un rôle crucial de coordination dans ce contexte. I welcome that, with the support of Eurojust, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine had swiftly set up a joint investigation team at the end of March last year. Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania have joined the team as well, and so has the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. This is the first time that the ICC has joined an EU joint investigation team. The Commission continues to encourage all the Member States to join the investigation team as well. It is important to collect, preserve and analyse evidence for future trials, and to ensure coordination. Good cooperation is crucial between the Ukrainian authorities, the ICC – or the states conducting investigations – and the European bodies. This is why in spring last year, the Commission proposed an urgent amendment to the Eurojust Regulation to allow the agency to store, analyse and exchange evidence related to international crimes. The European Parliament and the Council approved this amendment in record time. I want to thank you once more for backing this proposal so rapidly. The Commission also continues to support the International Criminal Court as the leading international actor in the field of international criminal justice. As you know, the ICC has already launched investigations related to the war in Ukraine. As regards accountability for the crime of aggression in particular, Russian leaders currently cannot be held accountable for this crime before any international jurisdiction. While the International Criminal Court is competent to prosecute possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, this court cannot, in the case of the conflict in Ukraine, exercise jurisdiction for the crime of aggression. In any case, we continue to consider that Ukraine should ratify the Rome Statute. This would be an important signal for Ukraine and from Ukraine. Ukraine has been advocating, in various fora, for the setting up of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression to close the gap in criminal prosecution at international level. The European Union should respond in a credible and united way to the Ukrainian courts, and the Commission, working jointly with the High Representative and Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell, is ready to lead that discussion. We took note that in its resolution of May last year on the fight against impunity, your Parliament has already called on the EU institutions to support the creation of a special international tribunal for the punishment of the crime of aggression. In its conclusion of October 2022, the European Council invited the High Representative and the Commission to explore options so that full accountability for the atrocities committed in Ukraine can be ensured, including for the crime of aggression. The Commission, in close consultation with the High Representative, prepared an options paper that was circulated to Member States at the end of November. This paper identifies possible avenues for establishing an accountability mechanism that may allow for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine. The paper aims to deepen reflections on a matter that raises complex legal and political questions. These require further discussions with the Member States and our international partners. The fact that the crime of aggression can, by definition, only be committed by the highest political and military leadership brings us to the issue of personnel and functional immunities. A possible tribunal set up to prosecute the crime of aggression would need, under customary international law, to have a sufficiently international character to relinquish immunities in a legitimate way, and to act on behalf of the international community. Before discussions on a special tribunal could possibly get a sufficient consensus and support at the international level, an investigation mechanism would first be considered. The Commission is reflecting about the possible setting up of an international prosecution office to start investigations into the crime of aggression, with a view to preserving and storing evidence for possible future trials. Discussions are ongoing on the matter, in particular on legal and security issues, with several actors, such as the Ukrainian authorities, Eurojust and the ICC. Of course, we will try in the next weeks to continue to discuss the best way to organise such an international prosecution office. It will be a first level on the road to fighting against impunity in the case of the crime of aggression. Of course, I am very open to listening to your remarks and proposals to see how it’s possible to make some progress in such a discussion, to have broad international support in the fight against the crime of aggression in the case of the Russian aggression in Ukraine.