Ukraine
has filed a case in the International Court of Justice to hold the Russian
Federation accountable for acts of terrorism and discrimination in the course
of its unlawful aggression against Ukraine. The case has been filed under
the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism
and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination.
Ukraine alleges that the Russian Federation is
violating the Terrorism Financing Convention by supplying weapons and other
forms of assistance to illegal armed groups operating on Ukrainian territory.
These groups have committed acts of terrorism in Ukraine with weapons supplied
by Russia, including the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17.
Other acts of terrorism include the bombardment of
residential areas in Mariupol and Kramatorsk, the destruction of a civilian
passenger bus near Volnovakha, and the deadly bombing of a peaceful gathering
in Kharkiv.
In addition, Ukraine alleges that the Russian
Federation is violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination by engaging in a campaign of discrimination against
non-Russian communities living in the occupied Crimean Peninsula, including, in
particular, the ethnic Ukrainian and Tatar communities. Beginning with an
illegal “referendum” carried out in an atmosphere of intimidation, Russian
occupation authorities have implemented a policy of cultural erasure against
these communities. This pattern of discrimination has been condemned by
the U.N. General Assembly and includes a prohibition on the Mejlis, the
representative organization of the Crimean Tatar people; a wave of
disappearances, murders, and arbitrary searches and detentions; attempts to
silence the media; and restrictions on the teaching of the Ukrainian and Tatar
languages.
“As part of its unlawful aggression in Ukraine, the
Russian Federation has displayed contempt for the basic human rights of the
people of Ukraine,” said Pavlo Klimkin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Ukraine. “We have tried to resolve the disputes through negotiation as required
by Conventions for more than two years, but the Russian Federation has been
unwilling to cease its violations of international law. Therefore, we have
filed our case to hold the Russian Federation accountable for these violations
and to vindicate the fundamental rights of the Ukrainian people under these
treaties, to which the Russian Federation is a signatory.”
Ukraine has requested the International Court of
Justice to impose provisional measures to prevent Russia from compounding its
human rights abuses while the case is pending.
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