“Armenia and the ICC: What’s Next After Ratifying the Rome Statute?” roundtable discussion

In 2023 Armenia ratified the Rome Statute, becoming the 124th State Party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 1 February 2024. This landmark decision, reached after a complex ratification procedure initiated in 1999 when Armenia signed the Rome Statute, could be key to strengthening accountability, achieving justice, and contributing to lasting peace in the region.

On 5 November the Democracy Development Foundation (DDF), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Europe in Law Association (ELA) and organized a roundtable titled “Armenia and the ICC: What’s Next After ratifying the Rome Statute?”.

The aim of this roundtable was to acknowledge Armenia’s ratification of the Rome Statute and discuss Armenia’s role and responsibilities as a State Party to the Rome Statute, including the implementation of the Statute into domestic legislation. The roundtable brought together lawyers, representatives from the Armenian government, diplomatic missions, and civil society organizations.

“The ratification for us not only means that Armenia joins the global fight against the most heinous crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also means that this opens a new avenue for us to pursue. In 2020, after the 44-day war, our extensive fact-finding report largely ended up on officials’ desks, with limited impact. Now, however, Armenia has access to one of the most important international tribunals, capable of delivering judgements that resonate globally. Still, for ICC to investigate, we need more than NGO applications – we require steadfast support from friendly ICC State Parties and, above all, from our own government”, said Arpi Harutyunyan, Justice and Human Rights Portfolio Manager at Democracy Development Foundation.