Human Rights NGOs concerned with Moldova not ratifying Rome Statute of ICC

Human rights NGOs are concerned with Moldova not ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to them, ratifying the document is a guarantee for the people's security and the correctitude of law-enforcing bodies, for the present and the future, Info-Prim Neo reports. Ratifying the Rome Statute entails additional protection for citizens, backing the national law-enforcement bodies and judiciary, and guaranteeing the punishment for the persons guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Moldova signed the document on September 8, 2000, but has never ratified it. Veaceslav Balan from the Moldovan office of Amnesty International (AI) has told a news conference on Thursday, organized on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of signing the Rome Statute, that Moldova has a passive policy as to the actions of the ICC. “By keeping silence, our country promotes the violation of human rights,” Veaceslav Balan said. In his opinion, violations liable to be qualified as military infractions would have occurred in Moldova, too. An example is recruiting youths younger than 18 during the Nistru military conflict. According to the executive manager AI Moldova, Evghenii Golosceapov, Moldova committed to ratify the Rome Statute in its Action Plan with the EU. Although the Plan ended in February 2008, not ratifying the Stature undermines the additional protection of own citizens, Evghenii Golosceapov believes. The International Criminal Court is a permanent and independent court, the international community created to search genocides, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 107 countries have ratified the Rome Statute last decade. The document was adopted on 17 July, 1998 and entered force on July 1, 2002.