The report on preliminary examinations published by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor in December 2018 indicates that it has moved to the evaluation of national proceedings regarding international crimes committed in Ukraine ; a step further to the possible opening of a full investigation. The December 2018 report also mentions more thoroughly than in previous reports allegations of sexual and gender-based crimes committed in Eastern Ukraine.
Since 2014, FIDH and its Ukrainian partners have called for the opening of an ICC investigation, providing key information and testimonials both on crimes committed during the Maidan events and in the Donbass region, conducting advocacy missions before relevant stakeholders in The Hague and Kijv and organising workshops in Ukraine. Furthermore, in September 2018, FIDH and its partner organisation EUCCI submitted an extensive confidential communication to the Prosecutor’s Office on previously underreported sexual crimes committed in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. These findings are specifically echoed in the ICC’s report.
Read more on FIDH’s litigation work before the ICC and on Ukraine.