International law crisis is temporary - human rights activist Matviychuk
Nobel laureate and head of the Center for Civil Liberties Oleksandra Matviychuk said that international law remains an effective mechanism for punishing the aggressor.
She said this in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague.
“It seems as if international law is not working now, but this is temporary. That is why we are documenting international crimes in this war that Russia has started against Ukraine, working to restore the law. It is in the interests of not only people in Ukraine, it is in the interests of all people in the world,” the human rights activist said.
According to Matviychuk, the international human rights system needs to change.
“This is logical, because international law is dynamic, it is constantly evolving, although not as rapidly as, for example, the latest technologies. After all, it is always an agreement between countries, it is always a search for some kind of consensus,” she said.
In this regard, Matviychuk cited the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as an example.
“Ukraine is convinced that Russia is committing genocide. But genocide as an international crime has a certain characteristic, it is necessary to prove genocidal intent to destroy a specific protected group in whole or in part. And this war is genocidal in nature. Because in order to destroy a national group in whole or in part, it is not necessary to kill all members of the group, but it is possible to forcibly destroy them, erase their identity, and sooner or later the national group will disappear. This aspect is what is called cultural genocide in the media, which was part of this concept when it was developed by Rafal Lemkin, and it was not included in the Convention. And this needs to be changed,” she said.
Matviychuk also noted that the International Criminal Court is an important element of the international justice system, created to investigate and punish those who commit the most serious international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
“We all have to defend the International Criminal Court and help make this tool effective, because there are no perfect tools. And we should work here too, because this is the only international court that is constantly operating and can bring Putin to justice for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide. Yes, this court cannot hold him accountable for the crime of aggression. That is why we are talking about a special tribunal. But it has not yet been created, and the ICC exists. And the loss of this tool would be a huge defeat for people around the world who document international crimes, hoping that those who committed them will be punished,” the Nobel laureate said.
As Ukrinform reported, the head of the International Criminal Court, Tomoko Akane, who issued the arrest warrant for Putin, expressed concern about the pressure and attacks the institution is undergoing.
Photo: Iryna Drabok, Ukrinform