War Crimes: Russia- Ukraine War

                                        War Crimes: Russia- Ukraine War

Emerging in the late 19th century, the modern legal concept of war crimes was developed. In the midst of World War 2, the concept of war crimes was codified into international criminal law. During this era, the Geneva Conventions and Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts were produced which were several treaties aimed to outline how civilians, prisoners of war, and soldiers who are incapable of fighting should be treated. Furthermore, the Geneva Conventions and Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts aim to provide “minimum levels of protection, standards of human treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who become victims of armed conflicts” ( Legal Information Institute). A war crime is any violation of the laws of war, many of which derived from the Geneva Conventions, that would cause an individual to earn criminal responsibility for the actions of those acting under the individual's leadership or influence. Examples of this would be intentionally killing or targeting civilians, taking hostages, unnecessarily destroying civilian property, and torture. The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and tries individuals who are charged with crimes that are concerned with the international world such as genocided, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. 

In news articles published recently, the International Criminal Court has accused Russia of war crimes, opening investigations on Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volovymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of war crimes of its continuous attacks of civilian areas in the city Kharkiv, and its development of vacuum bombs, which are thermobaric weapons that “suck in oxygen from the surrounding area to create a long-lasting explosion that vaporizes or suffocates those nearby and damages the internal organs of those at the fringe of the blast” (Meyer 2). If the International Criminal Court does decide to prosecute, it will target individuals who directed and authorized their war crimes. However, a lot of discussion around what can actually be achieved after recognition of Russia’s war crimes is being discussed.

Many have argued that the ICC is powerless to prosecute Russian individuals in the case unless the United Nations Security Council stepped in, or Ukraine addresses Russia’s crimes. However, realistically war crimes against Putin for his attack and invasion of Ukraine are not going to impact him in any way because he is protected within Russia. Therefore, unless he were to be arrested while traveling outside of Russia, he is likely to not be impacted.


Sources:

https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/crimes-against-humanity.shtml

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/03/01/war-crimes-possible-punishment-if-found-guilty/6971469001/ 

https://fortune.com/2022/03/02/russia-putin-war-crimes-ukraine-geneva-conventions-icc-hague/#:~:text=The%20modern%20legal%20concept%20of, been%20modified%20over%20the%20years

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/03/01/war-crimes-possible-punishment-if-found-guilty/6971469001/


Comments

  1. Max GilbertMarch 8, 2022 at 4:58 PM

    I definitely agree with a lot of the points you bring up in this blog post. Since Putin is this somewhat larger than life figure within Russia, he can get away with a lot of the war crimes the Russian military seems to be committing. This also made me think about our conversation in class surrounding the United Nations Security Council. At this point, would Putin even entertain anything said by the UN Security Council? It seems like Russia is in such a desperate state currently, that civilian casualties, and other potential war crimes are not even being considered during the ongoing invasion. I think that the Russia Ukraine conflict, if eventually brought to the UN Security Council, could be a very important moment for the legitimacy of the council's capabilities.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sofia GordonMarch 8, 2022 at 8:37 PM

    Your blog brings some great insight into the politics of warfare. I think that it is pretty devastating and frustrating that leaders of such powerful nations, such as Russia, are able to avoid taking accountability for their crimes and atrocities. I'm curious if the social climate of Russia might alter Putin's seemingly untouchable bubble if he continuous to act so drastically. In Carter's blog, he illustrates the current state (of lack there of) of moral within Russia. I'm curious what notions are necessary to hold our world leaders accountable for their crimes in general. What will push Putin out of his safe haven?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog post 5

Implications of Diplomatic Risk Game  The Diplomatic Risk Game provided valuable insight as to how international political decisions are executed, morevor what leaders place emphasis on when choosing their political strategies. In a fictional game, the chosen leaders and diplomats were not concerned with the true implicit and explicit costs of war, rather, the focus was on total dominance in resources. Similarly, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to progress it can be seen that leaders like Vladimir Putin operate under those same principles.  In principle, war should operate as it did throughout the Risk Game: two nations that cannot reach an agreement go to war and the dominant nation will emerge victorious. The Risk Game allows its players to focus solely on the international dynamics and their corresponding power changes emerging post-war. In order to settle a conflict,  “both the defender and the attacker roll X dice, where X is the amount of units they ...
Read more

POLS 170 Blog Post (1)

          International Relations realism, International Relations Liberalism, and Constructivism were very apparent in the time leading up to World War I and the time period immediately succeeding it. There were many reasons for the outbreak of WWI, however, one of the major reasons was the  European powers’ building up their respective militaries. As each nation saw another improving upon a facet of its military, it began looking for ways to counter it. This was very apparent in both Germany and England engaging in a massive build up of their navies, in order to ensure that in the event of war, they would have control over the oceans. Every nation saw a build up of forces in another as a threat to its own security, thus ultimately leading to the events of WWI. Also importantly during this time period, in terms of IR realism, was the colonization of territory across the world by European powers, significantly in Africa. European nations saw how resour...
Read more

BLOG 4

   Blog #4 Max Gilbert Elon Musk and Twitter: An Unlikely, Yet Sound Partnership      As of recently, and specifically this morning, Elon Musk seems to be on the precipice of buying the social media platform Twitter for roughly 46.5 billion dollars, and taking the company private. In total, Musk is worth more than two hundred and eighty billion dollars, and is most known for electric car company Tesla, and space exploration venture "Space X." Amidst this corporate drama, there remains the question of why does he want to buy twitter, what's in it for Musk? To begin with, he has spoken about the platform's harsh moderation of content, and free-speech, and would most definitely lessen those restrictions if purchased. Furthermore, Twitter as a whole has not capitalized on it's larger than life user base, and is notoriously dysfunctional. Musk would bring a fresh mindset to the table, and provide a more in-touch view, and perspective of younger generations.  ...
Read more