International Court of Justice to hear Ukraine claim

An urgent sitting of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague this weekend will consider Ukraine’s request for measures to order Russia to immediately suspend military operations in the country, the legal team acting for Ukraine said today. 

US-based international firm Covington & Burling filed a claim at the UN court last week asking the court to declare that Russia has 'no lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine for the purpose of preventing and punishing any purported genocide'.

The ICJ is the main judicial arm of the UN, with 15 judges. It has two functions: to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred by UN organs and agencies. As UN members, both Russia and Ukraine are bound by the court’s decisions. 

The application by Ukraine states that Russia has declared and implemented a 'special military operation' against Ukraine with the express purpose of preventing and punishing purported acts of genocide that have no basis in fact. 'On the basis of this false allegation, Russia is now engaged in a military invasion of Ukraine involving grave and widespread violations of the human rights of the Ukrainian people.'

The application 'emphatically denies that any such genocide has occurred' and asks the court to establish that Russia has no lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s request for provisional measures will be heard on Sunday. 

Russia’s invasion has already met universal condemnation from experts in international law. In an article for the Financial Times today, Professor Philippe Sands, director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London, writes that President Putin’s use of force is a clear 'crime of aggression' under the doctrines established at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. 

To cover gaps in the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, Sands proposed creating 'a dedicated international criminal tribunal to investigate Putin and his acolytes for this crime'.