The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has decided to allow certain parts of Ukraine’s case against Russia to proceed. The case revolves around Ukraine’s assertion that Russia unjustly accused Kyiv of genocide to rationalize the 2022 invasion. However, the ICJ ruled that it will not address whether Russia violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by using alleged genocide charges as a pretext for the war, even if the invasion may have breached international law.
Instead, the case will focus on determining whether Ukraine committed genocide in the eastern parts of the country, as claimed by Russia. This is an aspect where the judges established their jurisdiction. When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24, 2022, he argued that pro-Russian individuals in eastern Ukraine had been “subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime.” In response, Ukraine filed a suit at the ICJ, strongly rejecting these claims and contending that Russia’s use of “genocide” as a rationale for invasion violated the Genocide Convention.
The ICJ declared that it lacked jurisdiction to rule on whether Russia’s invasion breached the Genocide Convention or whether Moscow’s recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk, two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine, amounted to a violation of the convention. However, the court decided to grant Ukraine’s request for a ruling indicating that there was no “credible evidence that Ukraine is committing genocide in violation of the Genocide Convention” in eastern Ukraine.
The dispute between Russia and Ukraine concerning the application, interpretation, and fulfillment of the Genocide Convention has been confirmed, and the court has jurisdiction to establish in the merits case that Ukraine has not committed genocide in the specific areas of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukrainian territory.
The ICJ’s decisions are legally binding, but it lacks an enforcement mechanism. Therefore, it falls upon individual states or international organizations like the UN Security Council to implement such decisions or judgments.
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