War in Ukraine – International Court of Justice (17 Mar.22)

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France welcomes the important ruling issued on 16 March 2022 by the International Court of Justice on the war in Ukraine. Among other things, the ruling orders Russia to suspend the military operations begun on 24 February 2022, whose stated pretexts are to prevent and punish an alleged genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine.

This order follows the requests Ukraine submitted to the Court on 27 February in addition to the Request it filed against Russia, on the basis of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to which Ukraine and Russia are party.

Russia, like all UN members, has an obligation to comply with this ruling by the Court.

The emergency order is the first stage in a longer judicial procedure in which the Court will examine in depth the serious violations of international law committed by Russia. As the Statute of the International Court of Justice authorizes, France stands ready to intervene in this procedure, in support of Ukraine, because this case also concerns our fundamental interests when it comes to full compliance with international law.