The Ukrainian Parliament has hosted a roundtable entitled "Harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with international humanitarian law and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court." The international expert event was organized by non-government organizations along with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
The participants in the roundtable were Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oksana Syroyid, people's deputy / member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action organization Olena Sotnyk, Deputy Justice Minister Serhii Petukhov, representatives of the British Parliament, Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, Ukrainian and foreign lawyers, and representatives of non-government organizations.
The roundtable participants analyzed the barriers within the Ukrainian legislation for bringing to criminal responsibility for international crimes; discussed an opportunity to harmonize the Penal Code of Ukraine with the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and standards of the international humanitarian law.
Besides, the draft law "On amendments to Penal Code of Ukraine" (as to its harmonization with provisions of Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court) was presented within the framework of the roundtable.
According to the lawyers, the implementation of the terms of the international law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court would clarify the understanding of the role the parliaments play in the process of harmonization of the Ukrainian legislation with the terms and standards of the international law.