Sep 20, 2023 at 1:35 p.m
The Netherlands stood up for Ukraine at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Wednesday. Kyiv says Russia has violated a UN treaty by accusing Ukraine of genocide. 31 other countries also supported Ukraine.
All countries that support Ukraine will be allowed to speak at the Peace Palace in The Hague on Wednesday. The Netherlands argued, like the countries that spoke earlier, that Russia violated the Genocide Convention when it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia justified the invasion by saying that the invasion was necessary to prevent a genocide in eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russian insurgents have been fighting the Ukrainian armed forces in that area since 2014.
Ukraine went to the International Court of Justice in The Hague just days after the invasion. According to the country, Russia had abused international agreements with false claims to justify the invasion.
Countries cannot simply accuse each other of genocide
Russia and Ukraine already spoke on Monday and Tuesday. Then Russia demanded that the case be stopped. According to that country, the International Court of Justice should not rule on this issue because Russia did not explicitly mention the treaty when it started the “special military operation”.
The Netherlands, which is working together with Canada in this case, believes that the case belongs to this court, because it concerns a disagreement between two countries. The Netherlands also emphasizes that this is a violation of the UN treaty.
If a country accuses another country of genocide and takes actions, those steps must be assessed against the treaty, René Lefeber said. The legal advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke on behalf of the Netherlands in the courtroom.
For the first time, so many countries are speaking out
For the Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Sweden, among others, spoke. More countries will follow in the afternoon.
It is the first time that so many states have spoken out in a case before the International Court of Justice. According to the speakers, this shows how important they consider this issue.
The International Court of Justice established last year that no genocide took place in eastern Ukraine. Therefore, in a preliminary ruling, it ordered Russia to halt the invasion. Moscow did not do that.
Ukraine hopes that the court’s previous ruling will now be confirmed.
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2023-09-20 11:35:12
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