Ukraine's allies make legal arguments at top UN court in support of Kyiv's case against Russia
View of the Peace Palace which houses World Court where Ukraine's legal battle against Russia over allegations of genocide used by Moscow to justify its 2022 invasion, resumed in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Russia seeks to have a groundbreaking case tossed out at the International Court of Justice, also known as the Word Court, in a case which will see Ukraine supported by a record 32 other nations in a major show of support for the embattled nation. Credit: AP/Peter Dejong
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Ukraine’s international allies filed into the United Nations’ top court on Wednesday to support Kyiv’s case against Russia that alleges Moscow twisted the genocide convention to manufacture a pretext for its invasion last year.
The hearing came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. General Assembly in New York that Russia is “weaponizing” everything from food and energy to abducted children in its war against Ukraine — and warned world leaders that the same could happen to them.
An unprecedented 32 states were making brief legal arguments Wednesday to the 16-judge panel at the International Court of Justice, which is holding hearings into Moscow’s assertions that the World Court does not have jurisdiction and should throw out Ukraine's case.
Kyiv filed its case two days after Russia invaded Ukraine. It argues that the attack was based on false claims by Russia of acts of genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine insists the court has jurisdiction. Kyiv's allies supported that stance Wednesday.
Legal representatives including Australian Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue told judges that the case is about a dispute between Ukraine and Russia over the 1948 Genocide Convention that should be settled by the court.
While most of the national presentations in the court’s ornate Great Hall of Justice were dry legal arguments, Canada's representative, Alan Kessel, underscored what was at stake.
Presiding judge Joan Donoghue, center, follows judge Peter Tomka, right, and is followed by judge Ronny Abraham, left, as they enter the World Court where Ukraine's legal battle against Russia over allegations of genocide used by Moscow to justify its 2022 invasion, resumed in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Russia seeks to have a groundbreaking case tossed out at the International Court of Justice, also known as the Word Court, in a case which will see Ukraine supported by a record 32 other nations in a major show of support for the embattled nation. Credit: AP/Peter Dejong
“Canada and the Netherlands recall the profound consequences of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in immense human suffering," Kessel said. "It is against this backdrop that we intervene as part of our commitment to the protection and promotion of the rules-based international order and the peaceful settlement of disputes in which this court plays a vital role.”
The court’s panel of international judges will likely take weeks or months to reach a decision on whether the case can proceed. If it does, a final ruling could still be years away.
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