Ukrainian CSOs’ joint letter to Kaja Kallas: safeguard the ICC in the face of potential US sanctions

We are the Ukrainian civil society organisations working on justice and accountability in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine, representing victims of grave crimes, documenting human rights violations and supporting efforts to strengthen international justice efforts in Ukraine and globally.

We genuinely commend the long-standing and systemic commitment to justice for victims of the war Russia is waging against Ukraine that you and the European Union have been showing systemically.

In light of the looming threat to the International Criminal Court (the ICC) and consequently – international justice for victims of grave crimes throughout the world, we urge you to stand firmly against the possible sanctions and adopt protective measures for the Court and all the stakeholders interacting with it. 

The ICC is a legitimate independent judicial institution mandated to investigate international crimes around the world, and entrusted with this task by 125 countries, including all 27 members of the EU. Imposing sanctions (through the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, potential US President executive order or in any other way) would be a devastating and unacceptable act of a political attack against the system of international justice.

Such a decision would jeopardise efforts to protect victims around the globe, including Ukraine. Given the United States (US)’s sanctioning power It could paralyse the work of the ICC across all situations, including in Ukraine. The Court not only directly administers justice, but also acts as an important stakeholder in promoting international justice standards through its engagement with states under the complementarity principle. Sanctions against the court and its officials could chill cooperation, undermining justice efforts before national courts, as in Ukraine, and weakening the possibility of effective execution of arrest warrants, including ones issued against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials.

The majority of Ukrainian CSOs involved in justice and accountability efforts engage with the Court in one way or another. Depending on how sanctions are used by the US, it could put them at risk not just in context of the ICC-related work, but will also risk stripping them of financial support and operational capacity more broadly.  

All of this undermines the hope for meaningful justice for victims of crimes committed in the course of the Russia-Ukraine war. Potential peace negotiations are already causing concerns for a possibility of justice becoming a bargaining chip. Weakening the ICC only increases the likelihood of such a scenario.

To this end, we support the recommendations mentioned in the statement of the Coalition for the ICC and call on the EU Member States:

• Engage with the US representatives in order to decrease the likelihood of sanctions imposition and/or their scope.
• Adopt measures that would ensure stable funding for the court, and protect its operational capacity of the Court, such as blocking statutes that would preserve the possibility of the Court to keep on engaging with European service providers;
• Commit to an unequivocal support and full cooperation with the Court; prevent and respectively react to instances of non-cooperation or any other actions that undermine the legitimacy of the ICC by EU Member States;
• Stipulate protective measures for the Court`s staff, civil society organisations, human rights defenders and other stakeholders interacting with the ICC in context of potential secondary sanctions and punitive measures by the US.

Your Excellency, the EU should be among the strongest advocates for victims of grave crimes, and consequently – the ICC, especially in times of existential threats it faces. We urge you to support the Court, and ensure the EU acts accordingly.

To H.E. Kaja Kallas, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission

Signed by:

Association of relatives of political prisoners of the Kremlin 

Blue Bird

Center for Civil Liberties

Clear: Center of Law Enforcement Activities Research 

CrimeaSOS

Crimean Process NGO 

Human Rights Centre ZMINA

Human Rights Platform

International Partnership for Human Rights

Kharkiv Anticorruption Center

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group

The Media Initiative for Human Rights

The Reckoning Project

Truth Hounds

Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group