President Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine has filed an application against Russia before the International Court of Justice. Said Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week:
Ukraine has submitted its application against Russia to the ICJ. Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 27, 2022
This is apparently a separate case to the one pending under the Terrorism Financing Convention and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The basic problem here (compliance issues notwithstanding) is the jurisdictional basis. Russia does not have an Article 36(2) declaration accepting the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction. There is no treaty vesting the Court with jurisdiction over aggression or the breach of the prohibition on the use of force under Article 2(4) of the Charter
The application and provisional measures request have now been published on the Court’s website. See and download the application below:
