International Law
Ukraine asks international court to rule Russia made false claims of genocide to justify ‘brutal invasion’
The Monument of Independence in Kyiv, Ukraine. Image from Andreas Wolochow / Shutterstock.com.
Ukraine is asking the International Court of Justice to order “provisional measures” to halt “a full-scale, brutal invasion” by Russia.
Ukraine sued Russia in the United Nation’s highest court on Saturday, report the Associated Press, Reuters and a court press release. Although it can take years for suits filed in the court to go to trial, hearings on provisional measures can take place within weeks, the news stories point out.
Ukraine contends Russia made “a nonsensical and utterly unsupported claim” of Ukrainian genocide in its eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk to justify its invasion. Ukraine wants the court to resolve disagreements over the alleged acts of genocide and Russia’s justification for military action.
Ukraine contends the UN court has jurisdiction to resolve a dispute over the 1948 Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which has been signed by both Ukraine and Russia.
“Russia has turned the Genocide Convention on its head—making a false claim of genocide as a basis for actions on its part that constitute grave violations of the human rights of millions of people across Ukraine,” says Ukraine’s application instituting proceedings.
“Russia’s lie is all the more offensive, and ironic, because it appears that it is Russia planning acts of genocide in Ukraine. Russia is intentionally killing and inflicting serious injury on members of the Ukrainian nationality—the actus reus of genocide under Article II of the Convention.”
According to AP, orders of the International Court of Justice “are legally binding, but not always adhered to.”
Ukraine’s argument could be enough to persuade the court to issue provisional measures, according to the EJIL: Talk! blog. “Not that Russia is likely to comply,” the blog says. “But still—rhetorically and symbolically there is some power to this.”
The Lithuanian government, meanwhile, says it will ask prosecutors with the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Ukraine, Reuters reports in a separate story. Russia and Ukraine are not members of the ICC, but Ukraine has accepted the court’s jurisdiction, according to a post by Human Rights Watch.
In a statement ICC prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said his office has the authority to investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed in Ukraine. His office does not have jurisdiction, however, to investigate crimes of aggression under 2018 amendments to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court. That’s because neither Ukraine nor Russia are parties to the treaty.
See also:
Courthouse News Service: “Ukraine has few legal options to hold Russia accountable for invasion”
European Council on Foreign Relations: “International law and the invasion of Ukraine”
EJIL: Talk! “Ukraine Files ICJ Claim against Russia”
