Conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine: ICC holds training on Victim and Witness support

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Conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine: ICC holds training on Victim and Witness support

On 13 – 16 March 2023, the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) held a training on witness protection and support for victims of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine. The training gathered in Kyiv Prosecutors of the Conflict-related Sexual Violence Unit, the Juvenile Justice Department and other specialized staff from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine; members of the Ukrainian National Police, in particular from the Witness Protection Unit, as well as psychologists and psychiatrists working for NGOs to help apply an integrated, witness and victim-centered model for the protection and support of victims and witnesses of sexual violence.

“Over the past decade the ICC Registry has invested a lot in the development of a witness and victim-centered model for protection and support, guided by a trauma-informed approach. The Rome Statute was ground-breaking in demanding the inclusion of trauma-experts in the Victims and Witnesses Section and provide for possibilities to offer specialized psychosocial support. This support approach goes hand in hand with a strong vision on protection guided by international standards. I am satisfied to see that our training reaches such a diverse and multidisciplinary group of professionals in Ukraine. And it is my hope that this training will strengthen cooperation between the ICC Registry and the Prosecutor General’s Office as well as with the National Police and Witness protection Unit,” said ICC Registrar Peter Lewis opening the training.

Discussions, presentations and practical exercises focused on various issues related to protection and support such as multidisciplinary approaches to supporting and protecting survivors, the operational framework for witness protection and support, implementing a survivor-centered and trauma-informed approach or ensuring consent and confidentiality. High level speakers included the Court’s Registrar, Peter Lewis , Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Andrii Kostyn , the Director of the Prosecutor`s Training Center of Ukraine, Olesia Otradnova, the Head of theDivision of procedural management of pre-trial investigation and maintenance of public accusations in criminal proceedings on crimes related sexual violence , Iryna Didenko,and Vitor Maia Domingues Sousa of the Europol Special Tactics Division.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andrii Kostyn mentioned in his opening address that ‘Undeniably, for victims and witnesses, the psychological assistance is no less important than the legal aid. Empathy is something that can and should be developed by all participants in criminal proceedings.’

The training was organized with the financial support of the European Union.

Gender Equality Strategy Serves Stability and Growth Gender and Development

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Gender Equality Strategy Serves Stability and Growth <strong>Gender and Development</strong>

By Malika Kadirkhanova, Chairperson of the Senate Committee of the Oliy Majlis on Women and Gender Equality

At the current stage of reforms in Uzbekistan, reforms to protect the rights and legitimate interests of women, provide social support to women in need, and ensure gender equality continue to occur systematically. The strategy for achieving gender equality in Uzbekistan until 2030 was adopted in order to take these things to a qualitatively new level.

The marriage age for men and women was set at 18, and the list of jobs with unfavorable working conditions, in which women’s labor is prohibited in whole or partially, was abolished. The position of inspector for working with women was introduced in the internal affairs system.

In accordance with the Decree of the President dd. March 7, 2022 “On measures to further accelerate the work on systematic support of family and women”, the national program for increasing the activity of women in all sectors of the country’s economy, as well as political and social life in 2022-2026 was approved. A number of measures aimed at ensuring the social, political and economic rights of women were determined under this document and their practical implementation is being ensured. In particular, a 4 percent quota was allocated for adult girls from families in need of social protection to study at a higher educational institution.

Starting from February 9, 2022, the length of service for women, which includes the period of maternity leave, has been increased from 3 years to 6 years. The period of working experience for children with disabilities since childhood has been extended from 16 to 18 years.

Since September 2022, pregnancy and childbirth allowances have been established for women in private enterprises and organizations at the expense of the state budget. Interest-free education loans were introduced for women studying at higher education institutions, technical schools and colleges, and the procedure for state reimbursement of contract fees of all women studying at the master’s level was established.

The procedure for covering the educational contracts of low-income family members, orphans or female students deprived of parental care without the condition of reimbursement at the expense of additional resources of the local budget was introduced. In addition, the Alimony Fund was established, and in the case of the debtor being brought to criminal liability for evading the financial support of his minor child, the practice of directing the payment of alimony payments to cover the arrears was established.

Reforms aimed at radically increasing the role of women in the socio-political life and business sphere of our country are still in progress. A unique system was created for preparing socially active women to leadership positions, training, and improving their qualifications. As a result, in 2016, the number of women leaders in our country was 7%, by 2020 this figure has increased to 12%, by 2022 to 27%, and among entrepreneurs to 25%.

A single electronic database of promising women candidates working in state bodies and organizations was created, and a reserve list of more than 25,000 women for leadership was created. In 2022, a program to increase the activity of women in public administration was developed with the participation of ministries and agencies, and directed towards the implementation.

Today, at the system of state and public organizations, about 1,400 women are working in leadership positions at the level of republics and regions, and more than 43,000 at the level of districts and cities. 48 or 32% of the 150 deputies elected to the Legislative Chamber, are women. It is not an exaggeration to assert that these results are achieved due to the conditions created for women in the field of politics and management to serve for the future of our country.

The Academy of Public Administration and the State Committee for Family and Women developed a 552-hour “School for Women Leaders” program for training female leaders. As part of the program, 100 active women were trained. Data on 142 female graduates of the Academy during the period of 1996-2021 were compiled and included in the national personnel reserve database. At the same time, a single information system was created to record women victims of harassment and violence. 29 centers, including 1 republican center, 14 regional centers and 14 exemplary inter-district centers for rehabilitation and adaptation of women are operating effectively.

Further Strengthening the Legal Framework

Women are making a worthy contribution to the development of New Uzbekistan. This is the result of the reforms implemented to strengthen the influence of women and protect their rights and interests in the most basic aspects of society – political, economic, and social spheres.

In recent years, significant efforts have been made to further strengthen the legal basis for ensuring gender equality in all areas. The important measures have been taken to reinforce the legislative and institutional basis of achieving these goals, and more than 20 normative legal documents have been adopted aimed at further improving the system of comprehensive support of women, protection of their rights and legal interests.

The concepts of “gender expertise” and “gender audit” were introduced into the national legislation. A law was adopted on the simplification of the legal basis of the adoption procedure. Those who committed a minor crime and served a sentence were allowed to adopt a child pursuant this document.

Furthermore, a law was adopted to guarantee the rights of women in a difficult social situation. Based on the recommendation of the UN, the Law “On Protection of Women from Harassment and Abuse” and other relevant legal documents were improved, the concept of “domestic violence” was included in the law, and responsibility for domestic violence was established as a separate crime. Currently, the mechanism of protection of women from harassment and abuse has been improved, a draft law defining the procedure for issuing a protection warrant for one year by a court decision has been developed and submitted to the Legislative Chamber.

Within the framework of the Gender Equality Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan by 2030, the Central Election Commission has established 11 indicators monitoring the participation of women and men on an equal basis at all stages of the election in order to involve women and men in the election process on equal terms, to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the formation of election commissions. During 2022, the importance of women and the provision of labor rights were set as a separate indicator in the ranking of single personnel departments in state bodies and organizations.

The basis of legal regulation of labor relations has been improved in the Labor Code adopted in 2022 in accordance with international standards on human and labor rights. More than twenty new norms protecting women’s labor rights were included in this Code. In particular, citizens’ rights to dispose of their abilities to work, to exercise them in any form not prohibited by law, to freely choose the type of training, profession and specialty, workplace and working conditions were particularly strengthened.

Execution of International Documents

Uzbekistan submits periodic national reports to the UN Human Rights Council on the implementation of international conventions and pacts. Parliamentary supervision over compliance with international obligations in the field of human rights has been established.

As part of the implementation of the gender strategy, the issue of implementation of the International Labor Organization conventions “Equal relations and equal opportunities for working women and men: workers with family responsibilities”, “Part-time work”, and “Housekeeping” into our national legislation has been considered. Proposals were developed on the expediency of the Republic of Uzbekistan’s accession to the Hague Convention on the international order of child support and other forms of family support. Currently, a draft law is in the process of being enacted to this international document.

Last year, the national action plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution “Women, Peace and Security” and the “roadmap” for 2022-2025 were approved by the republican commission on increasing the role of women and girls in society, gender equality and family issues. Based on this document, it was decided to adopt temporary special measures to increase the number of women in leadership positions and encourage them.

In addition, the work has been started to prevent cases of violence against women, to expand their protection, to strengthen the fight against human trafficking, including trafficking of women and children, and to increase the readiness and responsibility of the competent state bodies to prevent the risk of violence against women.

The regulation of issues related to the rights of labor migrants is of particular importance for Uzbekistan. Therefore, in 2019, our country became a member of the International Organization for Migration. A special fund was established to support persons working abroad, to protect their rights and interests. In 2022, the “Cotton Campaign” coalition, which unites companies that produce finished products from cotton and trade in cotton products, recognized the complete elimination of forced and child labor in Uzbekistan and canceled the ban on Uzbek cotton. Moreover, in the annual report of the US Department of Labor “List of goods produced by child labor and forced labor – 2022”, Uzbek cotton was removed from the list of goods produced by child labor and forced labor.

Today, constitutional reforms are being implemented in our country. The draft constitutional law “On amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan” has been prepared. The draft law was subjected to gender-legal expertise.

On July 20, 2022, an international public discussion (consultation) was held in the city of Tashkent on the topic “Reflection of provisions on women’s rights in world constitutions”. At the event, suggestions were made for further development of the constitutional and legal basis of ensuring the effective protection of women’s dignity, rights, freedoms and legal interests.

Today in our country, ensuring the rights and interests of women, gender equality, developing women’s entrepreneurship, creating new jobs for them, improving working and living conditions has become a priority of state policy. This, in turn, serves to increase the influence of women in the most basic aspects of society – political, economic, social spheres, their activity in each field, and the participation of our sisters in the life of society is expanding year by year.

Morocco continuing its fight against terrorism – Arrest of three ISIS-linked suspects

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Morocco continuing its fight against terrorism – Arrest of three ISIS-linked suspects

By Eleni Vasiliki Bampaliouta

Officials of the provincial brigade of the Judicial Police of Casablanca, in close cooperation with the national brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) and the General Directorate of State Surveillance (DGST), arrested, in the early hours of Wednesday, March 15, three suspects of involvement in the intentional homicide police officer on duty extremists, who are associated with the terrorist organization ISIS. Initial information from the investigation indicates that the suspects had recently declared “allegiance” to the alleged ISIS emir and were determined to participate in a local terrorist attempt aimed at seriously destabilizing public order.

According to the press release of the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN), the three suspected extremists were remanded in custody for the purposes of the investigation assigned by the competent prosecution authority to the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, under the DGST, with the aim of elucidating any extensions of the terrorist plan and ties with international terrorist cells and organizations, the possible identification of accomplices and the determination of the causes and consequences of a case that claimed the life of a police officer, who fell on duty while performing security services on the public road network.


Morocco is a model in the fight against terrorism and extremist ideologies. At the national level, the country has developed a coherent, holistic and comprehensive National Strategy that takes into account all the factors that lead to radicalization and terrorism.

This North African country puts the experience and know-how it derives from the approach it has adopted at the service of the international community through its active participation in special forums and mechanisms aimed at preventing and combating terrorism.
The Kingdom, fully aware that no country can defeat violent extremism alone, favors international cooperation in all its forms, in particular, through triangular cooperation, North-South cooperation and South-South cooperation .

Finally, Morocco participates at the regional and international level in the dissemination of good practices and lessons learned at the national, regional and international level to combat violent extremism.

A new step toward a New Kazakhstan

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A new step toward a New Kazakhstan

By H.E. Mr Askar Zhumagaliyev, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The significant changes taking place in Kazakhstan’s domestic politics are ongoing at a high pace. The constitutional amendments, which were implemented following a nationwide referendum held in June 2022, paved the way for new democratic principles in our country, including increased influence of Parliament, limited presidential powers, simplified registration procedures for new political parties, direct election of rural akims (governors), and other important measures.

On March 19 another pivotal event in the transformation of our country’s modern history. Upcoming Mazhilis (the lower house of parliament) and maslikhats (local representative bodies) elections will be unique in many respects. Firstly, two recently established political parties will participate in the vote. For instance, towards the end of last year, the Green Party was established in Kazakhstan, which will raise awareness of ecological issues – an area that is of vital importance due to the ongoing climate change challenges, and of great concern to our citizens due to enduring consequences of large scale Soviet-era man-made environmental calamities.

Overall, seven parties are now registered in the country offering a plethora of political choice for the electorate. Their participation in competitive elections will further contribute to strengthening a multi-party system by increasing plurality and influence of opposition politics, an objective which our country has been working towards for the past several years. Significantly, the threshold for parties to enter the Mazhilis has been reduced from 7 to 5%, making it easier for opposition parties to enter parliament and play an important role in increasing government accountability.

Secondly, a mixed proportional-majoritarian model will be used for the first time for the election to the Mazhilis since 2004, where 70% of deputies will be elected proportionally from party lists, and 30% by majoritarian rule from single-member districts. This means that 29 out of 98 members of parliament will be elected in single-mandate constituencies, while 69 will be elected from party lists under the proportional representation model from a single nationwide constituency. The elections to the maslikhats of districts and cities of national importance will also be held under a mixed electoral system, with a 50/50 ratio, while lower level maslikhats will be elected completely under a majoritarian rule.

In addition, an “against all” option will be included on the ballots, which will give the electorate the opportunity to express their disapproval of all candidates should they wish to do so. Finally, a 30% quota for women, youth, and persons with special needs has been established at the legislative level in the distribution of the mandates of the members of parliament from the party lists. This ensures wider representation in parliament of all groups in Kazakhstan.

Our country has always shown its commitment to holding free, open, and fair elections. The role of election monitors is undoubtedly crucial in this regard. As with previous elections, including the presidential election in November 2022, we have invited 10 international organizations and scores of observers from foreign nations to observe the election. We expect the largest election observation missions from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The upcoming elections will mark another important milestone in the development of Kazakhstan’s democracy. Many were unsure whether our country would recover after the unrest in January 2022. Yet we have managed to overcome this hurdle. In addition to demonstrating our resilience and stability, we have transformed our country through significant political and socio-economic initiatives.

The elections will not change our country overnight, but they will further contribute to the creation of a Just Kazakhstan – a prosperous society, and a more vibrant, dynamic and competitive political system. Such a country will be an even stronger and more committed partner for cooperation for the international community, including the Netherlands.

As the world continues to navigate current geopolitical and economic challenges, a stable and thriving Kazakhstan is to the benefit of not just our own citizens, but to the whole region and beyond. Our political reforms, supported by competitive elections, is the foundation on which we will ensure our stability and continue to build our future.

ICC judges issue arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes

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<strong>ICC judges issue arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes</strong>

The Guardian (17.03.2023) – The international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children, sending Russia another significant step on the path to becoming a pariah state.

In granting the request for warrants by the ICC prosecutor, a panel of judges agreed that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, bore responsibility for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.

The warrants are the first to be issued by the ICC for crimes committed in the Ukraine war, and it is one of the rare occasions when the court has issued a warrant for a sitting head of state, putting Putin in the company of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.

Gaddafi was toppled and killed months after his warrant was announced. Bashir was also ousted and is currently in jail in Sudan, though he has yet to be transferred to The Hague. Putin is likely to evade justice in the near future: Russia does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction, and insisted on Friday it was not affected by the warrants. But the Russian leader will face limits on his freedom of travel to the ICC’s 123 member states, further deepening his isolation.

In deciding to issue the warrants, the ICC pre-trial chamber of judges considered keeping the warrants secret but decided that making them public could “contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes”.

It is unclear how many children have been taken from Ukraine by Russian forces. Last month, the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab published a report alleging that at least 6,000 children from Ukraine had been sent to Russian “re-education” camps in the past year. In a statement on Friday, the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said: “Incidents identified by my office include the deportation of at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children’s care homes.”

Khan said many of the children had been put up for adoption in Russia and that Putin had issued a decree expediting the conferral of Russian citizenship on the children, making them easier to adopt.

“My office alleges that these acts, amongst others, demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country,” Khan said. “We must ensure that those responsible for alleged crimes are held accountable and that children are returned to their families and communities … We cannot allow children to be treated as if they are the spoils of war.”

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes,” the ICC judges’ statement said, adding that he both committed the acts directly and failed to stop others from doing so.

The Kremlin was defiant in the face of the ICC announcement.

“The decisions of the international criminal court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on her Telegram channel. “Russia is not a party to the Rome statute of the international criminal court and bears no obligations under it.”

Lvova-Belova told Russian media that the arrest warrant reflected “appreciation” for her work “to help the children of our country, that we don’t leave them in the war zone, that we take them out”.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, estimated the number of deported children at far more than 16,000 and said the warrants represented “an historic decision which will lead to historic accountability.

“It would have been impossible to enact such a criminal operation without the say-so of the man at the helm of the terrorist state,” Zelenskiy said.

Wayne Jordash, a Kyiv-based international human rights lawyer and managing partner of Global Rights Compliance, said that the warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova were likely to be the first of many.

“More will come over the next few months. This has got to be a sort of warning shot across the bow,” Jordash said.

The Russian leadership has been overt about its taking Ukrainian children to Russia and placing them in camps or putting them up for adoption by Russian families. On 16 February, Lvova-Belova appeared on television telling Putin about the programme and thanking him for being able to “adopt” a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol, the south-eastern Ukrainian city that was devastated and occupied by Russian forces.

“Thanks to you, now I know what it’s like to be a mom of a Donbas child,” she told Putin.

“There’s a clear case here against Putin,” Jordash said. So I think it’s good to see the prosecutor focusing on children’s rights. I think this is what international prosecutors have failed to do over the last 20 years, so this is a good focus, as it’s one of the worst crimes being committed.”

The warrant for Putin’s arrest was welcomed by Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, who called it “the start of the process of accountability” and by the UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, who said “those responsible for horrific war crimes in Ukraine must be brought to justice”.

The US was more guarded in its response. Joe Biden said that Putin had clearly committed war crimes and the ICC’s decision was justified. But the US is not an ICC member, and the Pentagon has resisted cooperation with the ICC out of fear that US soldiers could potentially be pursued by the court.

“There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, and we have been clear that those responsible must be held accountable,” Adrienne Watson, the national security council spokeswoman said. “The ICC prosecutor is an independent actor and makes his own prosecutorial decisions based on the evidence before him. We support accountability for perpetrators of war crimes.”

Reed Brody, a veteran war crimes prosecutor and author of To Catch a Dictator, a book about the pursuit of Chadian leader, Hissène Habré, said the warrant “makes Putin’s world a smaller place”.

“I don’t think we were expecting to see him travel to France or Ukraine anytime soon, but he’s got to be careful,” Brody said. “Obviously, these are crimes that never go away. They will hang over his head forever and making them go away is very hard. We’ve seen time and again that the wheels of international justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.”

Photo credits: Video / The Guardian

ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova

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ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova

Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).

Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, born on 25 October 1984, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the  President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Ms Lvova-Belova bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute).

Pre-Trial Chamber II considered, based on the Prosecution’s applications of 22 February 2023, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.

The Chamber considered that the warrants are secret in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation. Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber.

The abovementioned warrants of arrests were issued pursuant to the applications submitted by the Prosecution on 22 February 2023.

ICC Prosecutor on the issuance of arrest warrants against President Vladimir Putin and Ms Maria Lvova-Belova

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ICC Prosecutor on the issuance of arrest warrants against President Vladimir Putin and Ms Maria Lvova-Belova

On 22 February 2023, I submitted applications to Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court for warrants of arrest in the context of the Situation in Ukraine. Today, the Pre-Trial Chamber has issued arrest warrants in relation to the following two individuals:

Mr Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation; and Ms Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the  President of the Russian Federation.

On the basis of evidence collected and analysed by my Office pursuant to its independent investigations, the Pre-Trial Chamber has confirmed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that President Putin and Ms Lvova-Belova bear criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, contrary to article 8(2)(a)(vii) and article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute.

Incidents identified by my Office include the deportation of at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children’s care homes. Many of these children, we allege, have since been given for adoption in the Russian Federation. The law was changed in the Russian Federation, through Presidential decrees issued by President Putin, to expedite the conferral of Russian citizenship, making it easier for them to be adopted by Russian families.

My Office alleges that these acts, amongst others, demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country. At the time of these deportations, the Ukrainian children were protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

We also underlined in our application that most acts in this pattern of deportations were carried out in the context of the acts of aggression committed by Russian military forces against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine which began in 2014. 

In September last year, I addressed the United Nations Security Council and emphasised that the investigation of alleged illegal deportation of children from Ukraine was a priority for my Office. The human impact of these crimes was also made clear during my most recent visit to Ukraine. While there, I visited one of the care homes from which children were allegedly taken, close to the current frontlines of the conflict. The accounts of those who had cared for these children, and their fears as to what had become of them, underlined the urgent need for action.

We must ensure that those responsible for alleged crimes are held accountable and that children are returned to their families and communities. As I stated at the time, we cannot allow children to be treated as if they are the spoils of war.

Since taking up my position as Prosecutor, I have emphasised that the law must provide shelter to the most vulnerable on the front lines, and that we also must put the experiences of children in conflict at the centre of our work. To do this, we have sought to bring our work closer to communities, draw on advanced technological tools and, crucially, build innovative partnerships in support of our investigative work.

I am grateful for the support of many partners of the Office that have allowed us to move forward rapidly in the collection of evidence. I wish to express my thanks in particular  to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine whose engagement has been essential in supporting the work my Office has carried out, including on the ground in Ukraine. Our participation in the Joint Investigation Team with national authorities from seven States, under the auspices of Eurojust, has also facilitated swift access to relevant information and evidence.

I will also continue to seek cooperation from the Russian Federation in relation to the Situation in Ukraine, and ensure my Office fully meets its responsibility pursuant to article 54 of the Rome Statute to investigate incriminating and exonerating circumstances equally.

Whilst today is a first, concrete step with respect to the Situation in Ukraine, my Office continues to develop multiple, interconnected lines of investigation.

As I stated when in Bucha last May, Ukraine is a crime scene that encompasses a complex and broad range of alleged international crimes. We will not hesitate to submit further applications for warrants of arrest when the evidence requires us to do so.

Issue by the Office of the Prosecutor / OTPNewsDesk@icc-cpi.int

The Alasitas and the Bolivian Carnival Promoted in The Netherlands

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The Alasitas and the Bolivian Carnival Promoted in The Netherlands

In February last month, the Embassy of the Plurinational State of Bolivia in the Netherlands organized the celebration of the Alasitas and the Bolivian Carnival festivities for the international and Bolivian community, as well as for Bolivia’s friends, exhibiting miniature crafts, paintings, Bolivian dances, and didactic materials for children and promoting Bolivian tourist attractions, as the Uyuni Salt Flat and the Madidi Park.

The Oruro Carnival, celebrated every year, was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 and has been declared a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2001, as it constitutes an expression of Bolivia’s extraordinary identity and rich cultural diversity and heritage.

The city of Oruro, Bolivia —a significant pre-Columbian ceremonial center before its refoundation by the Spaniards in 1606— remained a sacred region for the Uru people despite the Spanish ban on the traditional ceremonies of the Great Festival of Ito. With the ceremonies maintained under the disguise of Christian liturgy and hiding Andean gods behind Christian icons to ultimately turn them into saints, the Festival of Ito then became the Festival of La Candelaria (February 2), with the Diablada as its chief dance and the Virgin of Socavon (the Virgin of the mining fields) as its main reference.

The renowned Oruro Carnival is celebrated for six days every year, between the months of February and March. It gathers more than 28,000 dancers, 10,000 musicians, and more than 50 dance organizations as part of the Procession (or Entrada) —the main event of this celebration—, which extends throughout the Oruro city streets in an uninterrupted four-kilometer procession, allowing visitors to experience and share firsthand the richness and cultural mix between the original traditions of yesteryear and Christian liturgies.

The Diablada, Morenada, Caporales, Tinku, P´ujllay and all of the other dances derive from other carnivals and festivals throughout Bolivia, such as the carnivals of yesteryear (Sucre), the Corso de Corsos (Parade of Parades), the Carnival of Concord (Cochabamba), the Miner Carnaval (Potosi), the Entrada del Gran Poder (La Paz), the Fiesta Grande de Santa Cruz, among others, which can be visited in Bolivia and which offer so much to share.

The Alasitas festivity, which means “buy from me,” in Aymara, is celebrated on January 24 in La Paz and on other dates in the rest of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. It is a cultural expression that dates back to ancient ancestral and pre-Columbian Tiwanaku traditions, namely, the celebration of fertility, Qapaq Raymi or the Great Festival of the Sun held on December 20, a day before the Summer Equinox (December 21), which included rituals for the renewal of the fertility of people, land, animals and all beings in general, with the Illas, “the children of lightning”, representing the spirit of the Ekeko, the god of abundance.

The illa is an amulet to attract fertility and economic and spiritual abundance, lacking the desire for accumulation of material goods. This idol was recovered in November, 2014 from a museum in Bern, Switzerland.  

The evolution of the Alasitas festival resulted in the Ekeko, the “God of Abundance”, which is a folkloric portrayal of the illa, dressed in a hat and carrying food, money, vehicles, houses, and other goods represented in miniature.

The tradition is to buy a miniature crafted good representing what one needs the most in a particular year and have a yatiri [Andean shaman], and oftentimes a priest, bless the craft (called the act of ch’alla) in order for it to come true.

Crackdown on criminal network that produced and distributed methamphetamine in Europe 

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Crackdown on criminal network that produced and distributed methamphetamine in Europe 

The Hague, 14 March 2023

With the support of Eurojust and Europol, judicial and law enforcement authorities in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have dismantled an organised crime group (OCG) responsible for the production and distribution of at least 4.7 tonnes of methamphetamine in Europe. During a joint action, 16 suspects were arrested and over 3.3 million tablets containing raw material for the production of the drug were seized.

According to the investigation, the perpetrators used a Romanian company to purchase the precursors (raw materials) and incorporate them into two pharmaceutical products, 50 and 120 milligram tablets of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. They used a formula that allowed them to quickly extract these precursors for the production of methamphetamine in clandestine laboratories. One of the suspects was a partner and director of this company.

The tablets produced in Romania were shipped to companies in several European countries that purchased them without having a marketing authorisation in those countries. The tablets did not reach their declared destination, but were sent to various locations in Poland. From there, the shipments were split into smaller quantities and delivered to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where they were distributed to clandestine laboratories.

Using the ‘Czech method’ of producing methamphetamine in clandestine laboratories, approximately 0.70 kg of methamphetamine was obtained from one kilogram of ephedrine/pseudoephedrine hydrochloride.

Between January 2021 and February 2023, the members of the criminal group allegedly organised the transport and delivery of 168 788 870 tablets containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine (approximately 6.7 tonnes of ephedrine hydrochloride), from which a total of at least 4.7 tonnes of methamphetamine could be produced.

During joint action days from 26 February to 2 March, 16 suspects were arrested in the four countries involved.

In Poland, 3 184 500 pills containing ephedrine worth approximately EUR 840 000 (PLN 4 012 470) and 121 776 pills containing pseudoephedrine were seized. Additionally, PLN 366 200 and EUR 177 215  were also seized.

In Romania, approximately 3 tonnes of precursors, several batches of medicines and approximately EUR 600 000 were seized and several documents of interest to the case were identified.

A total of EUR 148 163, CZK 711 082 and PLN 22 433 were seized from bank accounts in the Czech Republic. Cash was also found and seized during the searches.

In Slovakia, EUR 1 129 220 was seized.

A joint investigation team (JIT) was set up between the countries involved in November 2022 with the support of Eurojust. The Agency also hosted three coordination meetings to facilitate judicial cooperation and support the coordinated investigative efforts.

Europol has been supporting the investigation since August 2022 by facilitating the exchange of information, cross-checking operational information against its databases and providing analytical support. A Europol mobile office was also deployed to Slovakia on the day of action to assist the national authorities in their investigative activities.

The following authorities took part in this investigation:

Czech Republic: Regional Public Prosecutor´s Office in Ostrava, Czech Police, National Anti-Drug Unit

Poland: National Prosecutor´s Office Department for Organized Crime and Corruption in Katowice and Wroclaw, Police Central Bureau of Investigation in Katowice and Wroclaw and Polish Border Guard in Nowy Sacz.

Romania: Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice – Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism – Central Structure – Department for Combatting Drug Trafficking; Romanian National Police Directorate for Countering Organised Crime – Central Antidrug Service; Directorate for Special Operations

Slovakia: Regional Public Prosecutor´s Office in Žilina, Presidium of the Police Force National Crime Agency Drug Headquarters

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