Ukraine at UN: Future trial against Russia to serve as booster against aggression as Nuremberg Tribunals did

To restore trust in global relations and strengthen peace, it is necessary to ensure accountability for war crimes and the use of the appropriate enforcement toolbox against violators of international law.

Khrystyna Hayovyshyn, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, said this at the Open Debate of the UN Security Council on “Futureproofing Trust for Sustaining Peace” on May 3, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

“Speaking about the role of the Security Council in shoring up trust, we should not deny the fact, that currently the Council is not a credible point of reference because it is incapable to deliver what it has been established for. Notably, for the maintenance of international peace and security as its primary responsibility that Member States conferred on the Security Council according to the UN Charter,” she noted.

The diplomat stressed that the bloodiest in the European continent in the past eight decades started in the middle of the Security Council meeting.

Irresponsible behavior of just one country totally undermined trust, Hayovyshyn noted, stressing that Ukraine firmly stands for the restoration of trust.  

Moreover, the diplomat underscored: “We will only succeed if accountability is ensured and enforcement toolbox towards the violator is sufficient and adequately applied.”

“When your home is on fire, you do not drive to a Home Depot to buy some new wallpaper. Firstly, you have to extinguish the fire… It is our duty to extinguish this fire, the fire of the Russian aggression,” the Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN said.

She noted that the alleged criminal, which enshrined the violations of sovereignty and territorial integrity of other State in its Constitution, presided over the UN Security Council in April.

According to Hayovyshyn, the world should act the way it acted eight decades ago when the Nuremberg Tribunals served as a booster against violations and aggression.

“We believe the future trial against Russian war criminal will play the same role,” the Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN summed up.

On Wednesday, Switzerland, which chairs the UN Security Council in May, organized the Open Debate of the UN Security Council on “Futureproofing Trust for Sustaining Peace”.