London to host international meeting on alleged war crimes in Ukraine


Along the main road in Borodyanka, Ukraine.

Justice ministers from around the world will gather in London to scale up the support being offered to the International Criminal Court in its investigations of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, the British government said on Saturday.

The meeting in March, which will be hosted by UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and his Dutch counterpart Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, will be attended by ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, according to a statement.

“Almost a year on from the illegal invasion, the international community must give its strongest backing to the ICC so war criminals can be held to account for the atrocities we’re witnessing,” said Raab, who is also Britain’s deputy prime minister.

The meeting will seek to increase the global financial and practical support to the ICC and coordinate efforts to ensure it has all it needs to carry out investigations and prosecute those responsible, the statement said.

Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation”, has denied targeting civilians and other war crimes. Ukraine and the West say Moscow has no justification for what they say is an imperial-style war of occupation.

READ | Missile fragments found in Moldova near Ukraine border as Russia launches another barrage

Britain has been steady in its backing for Ukraine, having provided 2.3 billion pounds (about $2.78 billion) in military support to Kyiv.

Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged artillery fire at the front line in Ukraine on Friday, even after Moscow said it had ordered its troops to stop shooting for a unilateral truce that was rejected by Kyiv.

The ICC’s Khan last year opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine. Legal experts say the court’s jurisdiction on aggression only extends to member states and countries that have agreed to its jurisdiction, such as Ukraine but not Russia. Moscow does not recognise the tribunal.


Related Posts

US government teeters on brink of shutdown with no deal in view

US government teeters on brink of shutdown with no deal in view

The US government is on the verge of a shutdown again. By Sunday morning, South African time, many of its services will not be paid for, unless…

With 68 000 already fled, Nagorno-Karabakh to dissolve, ending independence dream

With 68 000 already fled, Nagorno-Karabakh to dissolve, ending independence dream

Nagorno-Karabakh will formally ceases to exist by the end of the year, its former breakaway government said. Well over half its ethnic Armenian population has already fled…

Swiss glaciers recorded their worst melt rate since records began, bare rock that had been buried for millennia has reemerged, as has a plane and bodies that went missing decades ago.

Two ‘catastrophic’ years melt away 10% of Swiss glacier volume – study

Only a third of glacier volume in Switzerland would be saved if we stuck to the Paris target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,…

Photography giant Getty Images Holdings is releasing an artificial intelligence tool.

Getty Images to debut its own artificial intelligence image generator

Photography giant Getty Images Holdings is releasing an artificial intelligence tool. Photography giant Getty Images Holdings is releasing an artificial intelligence tool that will generate images…

Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images.

Qantas chair refuses to resign after scandals

Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images. Qantas chair Richard Goyder on Wednesday rejected calls for his resignation over a string of scandals that have buffeted the…

A British Airways aircraft at a gate at London Heathrow Terminal 5 airport.

BA pilot had cocaine party in Joburg before he was due to fly full plane to London

A British Airways aircraft at a gate at London Heathrow Terminal 5 airport. Dinendra Haria/LightRocket via Getty Images In August, British Airways pilot Mike Beaton went…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *