- Ministers meeting to provide extra support for war crimes
investigations
- UK vows extra financial and practical resources to ICC
investigators
Over 40 nations will be represented at the meeting, hosted by UK
Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, and the Netherlands Minister
for Justice and Security, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, at Lancaster
House in central London.
It comes as the ICC issues arrest warrants against President
Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria
Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, signifying an important step for
accountability and international justice.
Ahead of the conference, the UK Government has offered new
funding and support to:
- provide psychological support for victims and witnesses of
crimes, including those against children and conflict-related
sexual violence
- fund more UK experts to work for the ICC and help train
investigators to use digital evidence to bring war criminals to
justice
- enhance ICC investigators’ capacity to gather evidence of war
crimes from publicly available sources such as social media and
smartphone footage
- develop a joint virtual reality project with the ICC to
enable witnesses and victims to visit the Court virtually to help
prepare for their testimony.
An additional £395,000 also announced today brings total UK
support this year to £1 million, doubling the existing amount of
extra funding provided to the ICC from the UK.
Other countries are expected to pledge practical and financial
support for the Court and its independent investigations into war
crimes in Ukraine to ensure those responsible are brought to
justice.
UK Deputy Prime Minister, , said:
We are gathering in London today united by one cause to hold war
criminals to account for the atrocities committed in Ukraine
during this unjust, unprovoked and unlawful invasion.
The UK, alongside the international community, will continue to
provide the International Criminal Court with the funding, people
and expertise to ensure justice is served.
Minister of Justice and Security of the Netherlands, Dilan
Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said:
As an international community, we must take responsibility for
making sure that the perpetrators of the crimes committed during
the war in Ukraine are prosecuted.
Together we must establish the truth, achieve justice and ensure
security. The Ukrainian people have shown more than once they
will have the last word on their future. They have been hardened
but never broken. They might be angry and frustrated, but never
defeated. They deserve our support in finding justice.
The conference will be opened with speeches from Denys Maliuska,
Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s
Prosecutor General and Karim Khan KC, Prosecutor of the ICC.
It will also include sessions on evidence gathering and
co-ordination to progress investigations, as well as support for
witnesses and victims so they have their voices heard without
being retraumatised.
The Attorney General, KC MP said:
I witnessed first-hand the aftermath of the atrocities being
committed by Russian soldiers during my recent visit to Ukraine.
They must know that they cannot act with impunity, and today’s
conference is key to driving international accountability for
these horrendous crimes.
FCDO Minister of State, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, the
Prime Minister’s Special Representative for the Preventing Sexual
Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI), said:
The ICC plays a vital role in global efforts to end impunity for
war crimes, and the UK is proud to support the court’s
investigations across the world, including in Ukraine as a result
of Russia’s war and illegal invasion.
Support for the ICC sits alongside the Government’s broader
effort to stand with Ukraine under its assault by President
Putin. Alongside the United States and European Union, the UK has
established the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group in support of
Ukraine’s domestic war crimes prosecutions.
The UK also provided a bespoke package of support to the ICC last
year in the wake of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,
including:
- £1 million additional funding to support investigations over
the past year
- A dedicated police liaison officer based in The Hague to lead
on swift information sharing between the UK and ICC
- Ongoing defence analysis and monitoring of events in Ukraine,
including preservation of any evidence relating to war crimes
- Delivery of war crimes investigation training to Ukrainian
police on behalf of the ICC, in collaboration with the Norwegian
Police
The UK has given over £2 billion to Ukraine so far and has
pledged to match or exceed this figure in 2023.
