AAICJ Condemns Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The American Association for the International Commission of Jurists joins the International Commission of Jurists in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the Russian Federation’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Federation’s actions are a patent violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which mandates: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” Russia’s actions further constitute a “threat to the peace, breach of the peace, [and] act of aggression” under Article 39, and accordingly provide a legal basis for Security Council action under Chapter VII.
The present situation further implicates the international humanitarian law of armed conflict, international human rights law, and international criminal law.
Any use of armed force must accord with the binding standards set out in the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, the Hague Conventions, and customary international law. Among other requirements, all parties are bound by the principles of necessity, discrimination, proportionality, and humanity.
International human rights obligations also remain binding, including the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights, to which Russia and Ukraine are State Parties. Even during an armed conflict, certain rights under these instruments remain absolute, including the right to life and the prohibition against torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. Other obligations, such as provision of fair trials, may be derogated only to the extent strictly necessary to address an emergency facing the life of the nation.
International criminal law further prohibits genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression as a matter of custom regardless of whether a state is a party to the Statute of the International Criminal Court. In this regard, the AAICJ applauds the decision of ICC Prosecutor, Karim A.A. Khan QC, to proceed with opening an investigation into the situation in Ukraine as rapidly as possible, based upon Ukraine’s declarations accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction over alleged crimes under the Rome Statute occurring on its territory, should the Court choose to exercise it.
The AAICJ calls upon the Russian Federation to abandon its illegal invasion and occupation of Ukraine and calls upon all parties to observe and respect all relevant provisions of international law.
A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, the American Association for the International Commission of Jurists is built from a base of litigators, judges, and legal scholars hailing primarily from New York, and working in support of the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. Founded in 1967, we believe the legal profession has a unique imperative to deepen government understanding of what the Rule of Law can, and should, mean. Through direct action, we are fighting to increase the justiciability of human rights norms, and to support lawyers around the world who assume personal risk to build a more just society.