Türk said the Rome Statute deals with investigating the most “atrocious crimes” when countries are unable to address them domestically.

“I think there’s a need for a lot of education among people on what it (Rome Statute) actually means. It is about investigating the most atrocious crimes if indeed a filing is made at the domestic level (and) countries are not able to deal with them,” he told a press conference here today.

“So there is a clear hierarchy of investigations.”

Türk was asked how the UN could assist Malaysia if the country were to reconsider its position on the ratification of the Rome Statute.

Earlier, the commissioner also said he would offer support for Malaysia to move forward with ratifying six other core international human rights treaties.

Malaysia is not a party to the Rome Statute, an international treaty adopted in 1998, which currently boasts 123 signatory countries.

The treaty grants the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to prosecute crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

The government withdrew from the global treaty four years ago, with then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad saying he was forced to do so due to the confusion which arose over the issue within the country.

Mahathir had then said the issue had been politicised to smear the Pakatan Harapan government’s reputation.