Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the likelihood that (a) Syria and (b) Iraq refer Daesh acts of genocide to the International Criminal Court for an investigation without the need for UN Security Council approval; and what discussions his Department has had with representatives of each of those countries on that subject.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Neither Iraq nor Syria are State Parties to the Rome Statute. The International Crimininal Court (ICC) therefore has no territorial jurisdiction over crimes committed on their soil. In order for Daesh’s crimes to be investigated by the ICC, Iraq and/or Syria would have to declare their acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction. We have seen no indication that either intends to do so at this time.