Wayne Jordash KC, President of Global Rights Compliance (GRC), participated in the 10th Kharkiv International Legal Forum, speaking during the panel “Criminal Justice in Wartime”.
During his presentation, “Universal Jurisdiction and Cross-Border Cooperation in the Prosecution of International Crimes Committed in Ukraine”, Wayne focused on universal jurisdiction as an additional avenue for accountability, particularly where alleged perpetrators may travel outside Ukraine and existing justice mechanisms face practical limitations.
He also highlighted that, while a number of states have opened investigations into international crimes committed in Ukraine, the potential of universal jurisdiction has yet to be fully realised. Effective cross-border cooperation remains essential, particularly where crimes, witnesses, evidence and suspects may be located across several jurisdictions.
“You may have an investigation taking place in France, where the crime occurred in Ukraine, where the witnesses are in the Netherlands, and so on and so forth. So cooperation is key. Taking a risk at the national level to negotiate and manoeuvre through this complicated coordination is another key to universal jurisdiction, and it’s one of the reasons why many states do not live up to their obligation to investigate and prosecute universal jurisdiction cases,” noted Wayne.
Concluding his remarks, he stressed that effective universal jurisdiction cases require institutional capacity, sufficient resources and strong legal frameworks, while noting that national authorities need to do more to advance cases arising from crimes committed in Ukraine.