KONCICC calls on Kurdish leaders to return Iraq to Rome statute

Shafaq News/ Kurdish Organizations Network Coalition for the International Criminal Court (KONCICC) called, on Saturday, the Kurdish leaders to urge the Federal Government to return the membership of Iraq to the International Criminal Court.

KONCICC Representatives said, in a panel in Kirkuk, "139 countries have signed the Rome Statute, including Iraq, but it withdrew after two weeks without any clarification.”

The Coalition pointed out that "the Iraqi state's ratification of the Treaty of Rome and its accession to the International Criminal Court is important so that genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq are not repeated."

It renewed its call for the Iraqi government to join the Rome Statute to reassure the people of Kurdistan and the religious and sectarian minorities in Iraq.

The Coalition demanded from the Kurdish leaders to make Iraq's return to the Rome statute one of the demands of the people of Kurdistan during their negotiations with the federal government in Baghdad.

They also called on the Kurdish government, the Iraqi government, and the Kurdish leaders in West Kurdistan to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in providing information on ISIS militants who hold the nationality of a member state in the Court.

The states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court are those sovereign states that have ratified or have otherwise become party to, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, an international court that has jurisdiction over certain international crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes that are committed by nationals of states parties or within the territory of states parties. States parties are legally obligated to co-operate with the Court when it requires