Opening remarks will be delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba Braže and the meeting will be chaired by the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Iryna Mudra.
Since January 2023, the Core Group on the Establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine has been discussing legal solutions to end impunity for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, with the aim of creating an effective Special Tribunal with the broadest cross-regional support.
"Currently, none of the established mechanisms can ensure accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Although the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over the crime of aggression in accordance with the Rome Statute, it cannot investigate and adjudicate the crime of aggression against Ukraine as the Russian Federation has not ratified the Rome Statute. Therefore, together with other like-minded states, Latvia continues to call for the establishment of a special tribunal to close the accountability gap," said a release from the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Latvia has been at the forefront of attempts to bring Russia's criminal regime to justice, with former President Egils Levits among the more prominent activists on this matter.
The crime of aggression means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the UN Charter (per article 8bis(1) of the Rome Statute).
However, the International Criminal Court (ICC) does not have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression committed in and against Ukraine. Ukraine believes that a new special tribunal on the crime of aggression could help ensure that those in Russia’s civilian and military leadership are held to account for their premeditated decision to illegally invade Ukraine.
