ICC

The ever-evolving landscape of International Criminal Law (ICL), as a field that connects different branches and levels of law, requires meticulous deliberation. Establishing international justice is a crucial step in ensuring that all perpetrators are held accountable. The International Criminal Court (ICC/the Court) has issued two arrest warrants against the President and Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian Federation, on March 17, 2023, for their involvement in forced population transfer which is an international crime under the Rome Statute. This research article seeks to explore the Ukraine situation from the perspective of ICL and examine the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against Russian authorities. Additionally, it briefly addresses the Ukraine’s lawfare against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). While the issuance of the arrest warrants is in itself a positive step toward the fortification of international criminal justice, the implementation of these warrants specifically regarding the President of the Russian Federation seems to be very problematic. Nevertheless, in spite of the challenges faced by the ICC in this situation, issuance of the arrest warrants reveals a significant reality: international criminal justice does not exempt even the president of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Furthermore, the legal actions taken by Ukraine against Russia at both the ICJ and ECtHR are legally positive steps towards halting aggression and restoring international peace and security through international law. However, these actions face challenges such as time constraints and compliance.

The challenges of the past century—such as terrorism, nuclear threats, population growth,and drug trafficking—have significantly impacted global security and human rights. Amongthese, the “Environmental Crisis” stands out as one of the most pressing issues facing theinternational community and the rights of future generations. These rights are increasinglythreatened not only by terrorism and nuclear risks but also by the alarming proliferation of theCOVID-19 pandemic, which has emerged as a formidable challenge in the 21st century. It isessential to recognize that these challenges constitute a substantial part of criminal conduct atvarious national, regional, and international levels. To effectively address the myriad forms ofcrimes against the rights of future generations, the adoption of a robust and effective criminalpolicy is imperative. However, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC)has not sufficiently criminalized or addressed crimes specifically targeting future generations.Nonetheless, the Statute’s provisions concerning recognized international crimes—such aswar crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide—may offer a framework for addressingoffenses that infringe upon the rights of future generations. Thus, it is conceivable to pursueaccountability for such crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international assessment that measures the reading literacy of fourth-grade students (aged 9-10 years old). PIRLS aims to evaluate and compare the reading abilities of students across different countries. It assesses how well students can understand and interpret written texts, which is fundamental to their overall educational development. In this study, psychometric analyses were run on a portion of the multiple-choice items of PIRLS 2016 taken by 4th graders in the USA. The 3PL item response theory model was utilized to examine the test. Discrimination, difficulty, and guessing parameters were estimated along with the fit values, reliability, item characteristic curves, and item-person map. M2, CFI, TLI, and RMSE statistics showed that the test is reliable and the model, overall, fits the data. Item fit statistics outfit and infit showed that most of the items fit the 3PL model. Findings showed that while all the items have acceptable discrimination values, two items have unacceptable guessing parameters. Examination of the ICCs showed that graphical displays are important, in addition to numerical values, for examining item quality. Item-person map showed that items do not target the whole ability scale.