The Government will continue to work with our EU counterparts on any further EU-wide measures that might be required to assist the people of Ukraine.
The mandate of the European Network for investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes is to ensure perpetrators do not attain impunity within the Member States. The Secretariat of the Network is hosted by Eurojust, which plays a central role in coordinating the fight against core international crimes and enables close cooperation and information exchange between national authorities.
Eurojust also provides practical, legal and financial support to joint investigation teams, which often stem from the observations and groundwork of the Network. Investigations benefit from the Agency’s global network of Liaison Prosecutors and Contact Points, giving prosecutors quick access to more than 50 jurisdictions around the world.
The Garda Síochána, through the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, have responsibility for the investigation of core international crimes and represent Ireland on the Network.
The Deputy may wish to note that Ireland has certain extra-territorial jurisdiction under section 12(2) of the International Criminal Court Act 2006 which is not confined to suspects who are Irish residents/nationals. While Section 12(2) of the Act gives Ireland jurisdictional reach, as signatories to the Geneva Convention, Ireland is obliged to initiate a criminal investigation in circumstances where it can be proven that an ICC offence was committed involving an Irish national.
I am advised that following his announcement of an investigation into the situation in Ukraine in March, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) wrote to all States Parties to the Rome Statute asking them to provide additional assistance to his Office in order to address the urgent resource needs that it is currently facing, specifically requesting voluntary financial contributions and the secondment of staff with specialist, forensic skills. This request is not explicitly linked to the Ukraine investigation and the requested assistance will be used on programmes that will benefit all of the ICC’s investigations across many different countries.
Responding to that request, on 14 April, the Minister for Foreign Affairs announced €3m in funding to the ICC, of which €1m will be disbursed immediately to the Office. The request of the Prosecutor for secondment of specialist staff has also been brought to my attention and following consultation with the relevant agencies, I am considering how we can best respond.
As the prosecutor general from Ukraine and the prosecutor of the ICC are anticipating prosecutions, it is clear that they are welcoming the support of Member States and the initiation of criminal investigations at a national level as this ensures the professional gathering of evidence, much of which may be displaced amongst refugees, which may be relevant to their subsequent prosecutions. In this regard, a strategy to identify and collect relevant information and evidence is currently under consideration by An Garda Síochána.
The Deputy may wish to note that Chapter 3 of Part 5 of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008, as amended, allows for DNA evidence to be provided to a designated state (evidence taken with consent only) or EU Member State in the context of criminal investigations or proceedings in that state, subject to certain conditions.
Such evidence might be used in the context of a criminal investigation or criminal proceedings for offences that occurred in a state other than that requesting the evidence, depending on the jurisdiction of the requesting state.
