Is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine illegal? It is on this issue that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to decide this Wednesday during a hearing from 16:00 (15:00 GMT) in The Hague, where it sits. The legal request was launched by Kiev as a matter of urgency after 24 February. The Ukrainian government wants the UN’s highest court, created in 1946 to settle disputes between states, to take emergency measures, known as conservatories, and order Russia to “immediately suspend hostilities.”
Kyiv believes that Russia illegally justified its invasion by falsely claiming the genocide of the Russian-speaking population in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine. “Russia needs to be stopped, and the court must play its part in stopping this,” Ukrainian representative Anton Korynevych said at the hearing.
Kremlin talks about “self-defense”
Russia refused to appear at the hearing of the case at the International Court of Justice on March 7-8. But in a written document, Moscow denied the court’s jurisdiction over Ukraine’s lawsuit. Russia claims that it is not subject to the 1948 Genocide Convention, on which Kyiv bases its position.
“The Government of the Russian Federation respectfully asks the court to refrain from indicating interim measures and withdraw the case from consideration,” Moscow said. Russia added that it did not appear before the magistrates because it did not have time to prepare. And the invasion of Ukraine is an act of “self-defence”.
A verdict that will definitely not be respected
Decisions of the ICJ are binding and cannot be appealed, but the court does not have the means to enforce them. The main judicial body of the UN bases its opinions mainly on treaties and conventions. “It is unlikely that the International Court of Justice will not respond to Ukraine’s demands, at least in part or in full,” said Marieke de Hoon, assistant professor of international criminal law at the University of Amsterdam.
Before considering the substance of the dispute between the two countries, which could take years, the ICJ should only determine at this stage whether there is a prima facie dispute over the interpretation of the genocide convention, she notes. According to Marieke de Hoon, it will be “not difficult” for the court to decide whether this criterion is met. Will Russia take this decision into account? “It’s a completely different issue,” she says.