Published: 2022
Total Pages: 0
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On 1 July 2022, the International Criminal Court will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Twenty years ago, the Rome Statute reaffirmed that it is the duty of every state to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for core international crimes - the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The European network of contact points in respect of persons responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes (the Genocide Network), hosted by the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), was created precisely to help Member States fulfil this duty, thus supporting the principle of complementarity. In recent years, several conflicts and situations of massive human rights violations - including in Belarus, Iraq, Libya and Syria, to name a few - have attracted attention from the public and the international community, in part because of the violence of the conflicts, and in part owing to their geographical proximity to the EU and direct impact on refugee flows. As a result, victims, civil society and the public have actively scrutinised Member States' efforts to fight against impunity. At the time of publication of this report, the EU and its Member States are facing a crisis unparalleled since the entry into force of the Rome Statute. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and alleged core international crimes committed in that context have sparked many simultaneous initiatives to promote accountability, including the opening of investigations in 11 Member States. The situation will undoubtedly test the EU and its Member States' readiness to tackle core international crimes committed on a large scale. The EU will also need to take a leading role in coordinating the actions of numerous stakeholders.