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The Armenian National Assembly on Tuesday started debates on the ratification of the Rome Statute at a session boycotted by the opposition.

The Armenian government sent the Rome Statute to the National Assembly for ratification on September 1.

Armenia signed the Rome Statute on 1 October 1999, but has not yet ratified it.

The Rome Statute is the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) founding treaty. It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998 and entered into force on 1 July 2002. As of November 2019, 123 states are party to the statute. Among other things, it establishes court function, jurisdiction and structure.

The Rome Statute established four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Those crimes "shall not be subject to any statute of limitations".

Speaking at the parliament session, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s Representative on International Legal Matters, recalled that the country’s Constitutional Court suspended the ratification of the Rome Statute in 2004 as it ruled that the treaty ran counter to several provisions of the 1995 Armenian Constitution, which has been twice amended since 2004.

"That's why the ratification of the treaty was halted. Discussions on the ratification of the statute started when Azerbaijan launched a large-scale aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia last year, committing brutal war crimes," Kirakosyan said.