Ukraine Urges UN's Highest Court to Hear Allegations of Russian Genocide Claim

Kyiv's Plea for Justice in the Face of Russia's Genocide Claim: A UN Court Showdown

In the world of geopolitics, Ukraine has just sought redress from an international court regarding, of course, Russia.

The International Court of Justice, or the ICJ, is the highest court that the United Nations has to offer and Ukraine asked them this past Wednesday to ignore the predicted objections from Russia and, review allegations that the all-important dictums of international law were ignored or abused by Russia and specifically, by Moscow.

Reuters has just reported that Ukraine’s representative, Oksana Zolotaryova stated, “Your jurisdiction to resolve the dispute is clear. Your judgment remains urgently needed."

Zolotaryova, “Procedural aspects of international criminal tribunals. How to conduct a trial?” | Special Tribunal YouTube Channel

The case she presented circled around the letters and, perhaps more importantly, the spirit of the Genocide Convention, in that Russia has sought to justify its 2022 invasion by way of preventing an alleged genocide. 

Russia’s reaction to this was certainly more than slightly predictable. They seek for the ICJ to simply dismiss the case on grounds that it was “hopelessly flawed” as stated by the envoy of Russia, Gennady Kuzmin. In fact, Reuters also reported early last week that Kuzmin stated, “Ukraine insists no genocide has occurred,” and went on to say, “That alone should be enough to reject the case. Because according to the court's jurisprudence, if there was no genocide, there cannot be a violation of the Genocide Convention.” 

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Echoing the aforementioned, Reuters went on to cite Kuzmin closing his argument by saying, “Ukraine's legal position is hopelessly flawed and at odds with the long-standing jurisprudence of this court”.

One salient development in this unfolding drama comes to us in the form of Harold Koh. Mr. Koh is a lawyer for Ukraine and has hastily applied his Harvard-trained expertise to the matter.

According to an article on offer from TVPWorld, Koh, of course in defense of Ukraine asked that the court “promptly dismiss Russia’s preliminary objections and schedule a hearing on the merits.” 

The merits in this case, as far as Koh is concerned, don’t circle around the matter of genocide, or as Wrong Speak has published before, “race murder”. Instead, it would seem to center around as the article from TVPWorld went on to say, the “use of force”. 

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Koh went on to ask the court, stalwartly, one question: “May a powerful state falsely accuse its neighbor of genocide (and) then use illegal force to kill its citizens, devastate their homeland, and destabilize the global legal order all on the pretext of preventing and punishing genocide?”.

That’s a powerful question that seems to demand an equally powerful answer, as well as concurrent action.

The Ukraine-Russia conflict, to potentially resort to the dreaded euphemism, has been a major news event in the world. The conflict began back in late February 2022 and has been the subject of numerous discussions and debates ranging from the ethics of foreign countries waging what has been called a “proxy war” as well as to what extent the United States has a role to play.

Let’s not forget that, so far, since the war began, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, “the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress has directed more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support.”

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