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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday morning that the nation’s government has completed its application to the International Court of Justice – the highest legal authority of the United Nations.
Zelenskyy stated that he hoped the court would hold Russia responsible for its invasion of Ukraine and its alleged misinformation campaign to justify its aggressive assault.
“Ukraine has submitted its application against Russia to the ICJ. Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote.
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“We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week,” he added.
The message was posted twice – first in Ukrainian and then again in English.
The International Court of Justice is, on paper, one of the most powerful courts of international law in the world. It holds jurisdiction over all member states of the United Nations and can be utilized to arbitrate disputes between non-member nations when requested.
“The sources of law that the Court must apply are: international treaties and conventions in force; international custom; the general principles of law; judicial decisions; and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists,” the court writes. “Moreover, if the parties agree, the Court can decide a case ex aequo et bono, i.e., without confining itself to existing rules of international law.”
However, international courts have long suffered in their efficacy due to lack of cooperation between member nations.
The International Criminal Court, another court of international jurisdiction, is utilized to prosecute actions such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Representatives of the ICC have said they are monitoring the situation for future legal actions.
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The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial shared a statement the museum originally posted to its Twitter account on Thursday morning.
“This morning, Russia attacked Ukraine. This act of barbarity will be judged by history, and its perpetrators, it is to be hoped, also by the International Court of Justice,” the memorial’s statement reads.
It continued, “We express our absolute solidarity with the citizens and residents of the free, independent, and sovereign Ukraine and with all Russians who have the courage to oppose this war. At this moment, the free and democratic world must show if it has learned its lesson from the passivity of the 1930s.”
Fox News’s Cortney Moore contributed to this report.
