On Wednesday, January 31, the International Court of Justice in The Hague will announce the decision on the case that Ukraine filed in January 2017 against Russia - it concerns the fight against financing of terrorism and racial discrimination. If the decision is positive, this case will become a historical precedent not only for Ukraine but also for the whole world, and Russia will be responsible for its actions for the first time.
Lana Zerkal, ex-Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, who represented Ukrainian delegation in the court in The Hague, wrote about this on her Facebook page.
According to her, the decision will be announced at 3 pm in The Hague.
After filing the case in 2017, Ukraine's first significant victory came in November 2019, when the ICJ rejected all objections by Russia and its lawyers to the Court's jurisdiction to hear the case on Ukraine's claim for the application of the International Conventions on the Financing of Terrorism and on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Lana Zerkal showed photos showing some of the work done in nine years.
"The first photo shows the number of volumes that make up each copy of the Memorandum (a document that sets out legal positions and facts). The second shows the moment when I signed each copy. The third one is the presentation of Ukraine's position to the Court," she said in a statement.
If the court makes a positive decision, Ukraine will have a legally established right to receive appropriate compensation for violations of these international treaties. The ICJ's decision will also be crucial for the further development and application of international law in the field of fighting the financing of terrorism and racial discrimination.
"In fact, the Court will determine whether a state that is a permanent member of the UN Security Council can violate all norms of international law without punishment, manipulate facts and cynically lie to the world by spreading its dirty propaganda. For now, Russia is trying to prove to the world that in the face of a "powerful nation", the rule of law and this Court mean nothing. The judgment in this case will be the first legal response of the civilized world to Russia's grandiose disregard for international law and the International Court of Justice in particular," emphasized Lana Zerkal.
In particular, the case attempts to prove that Russian officials deliberately financed terrorist acts in Ukraine. They supplied illegal armed groups with money, missiles and bombs, knowing that these funds would be used to kill, coerce and intimidate civilians.
"This is not a history of mistakes, but a clearly understood pattern. When Russians provided money and weapons to the terrorists, they clearly knew how these funds would be used - they would go to complete the list of horrors for the civilian population," ex-Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs explained.
In addition, many discriminatory actions of Russian authorities intended to destroy or violate the human rights of two ethnic groups in Crimea: the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainian community.
"In annexed Crimea, these two ethnic groups became Russia's targets for collective punishment for their principled resistance," Zerkal emphasized.
In particular, the International Court of Justice may:
- Recognize Russia's violation of international obligations to prohibit the financing of
- terrorism and racial discrimination;
- clarify the basic standards of these conventions;
- order Russia to fulfill the requirements of both conventions;
- maintain permanent jurisdiction to keep Russia's actions under continuous judicial supervision until full and fair compensation is determined.