REGARDING THE COMPLETENESS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION IN THE CRIMINAL CODE OF UKRAINE OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES

Abstract

The analysis showed that some norms of international treaties that have been ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and which concern substantive criminal law issues are not implemented in the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It is established that in the literature on international law a unified position wasn`t reached on the content of the concept of “implementation of the norms of international law”. It is concluded that the Criminal Code of Ukraine needs a number of changes and additions in order to ensure full harmonization of the Articles as General and Special Parts with the provisions contained in the effective international treaties, the consent of which is binding by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Some directions of implementation of the norms of international law in the criminal legislation of Ukraine are defined: 1) the Criminal Code of Ukraine contains responsibility for the crimes of aggression, genocide and war crimes, but ignores the provisions of international treaties on liability for crimes against humanity; 2) Articles 48 and 58 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of and the Combating of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence have not been implemented in relation to the prohibition of the release from criminal responsibility of persons who committed domestic violence, forced sterilization, forced marriage or forced entry into sexual intercourse and the extension of the limitation period for the time sufficient for effective proceedings after reaching the age of majority; 3) Article 46 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, has not been implemented, in so far as the persons responsible for espionage, for certain reasons, should be exempted from criminal liability; 4) Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (in conjunction with the legal position of the European Court of Human Rights) has not been implemented with regard to the need for the inclusion in national criminal law of rules that would allow for the possibility of revision of life imprisonment in order to mitigate a sentence or conditional release of a prisoner; 5) Article 5 of the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components, and Ammunition to It, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, has not been implemented – with regard to the criminalization of the illegal transfer of firearms to the territory of the State party to the firearms weapons; 6) the International Convention for the Suppression of the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, as part of the general definition of the concept of a mercenary, as well as in determining the amount of material remuneration or personal benefit as a mandatory sign of a mercenary, has not been implemented; 7) the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court have not been implemented – as regards the features of the subject of a crime against peace.