UKRAINE: RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES

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The Russians have committed war crimes since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine. Murders, mass executions, torture, looting and sexual assault of women and children are just some of the heinous activities that the invaders have inflicted upon the Ukrainian civilians. In this post, we look at how war crimes can be defined according to the international law of armed conflict and look at some evidence of these in Ukraine.

WHAT IS A WAR CRIME?

A ''code of conduct'' for defining behaviour in a war zone can be traced back for centuries. However, the current laws of armed conflict and international humanitarian law were created around the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Over the years, it has evolved to the Hague Conventions adopted in 1899 and 1907. These focus on the methods of warfare that can be used and what warring parties are allowed and prohibited to do. A few other treaties have been developed since then.

A woman and child evacuating from a destroyed apartment building (Source: Unknown) 

We also have the Geneva Conventions, that were ratified in 1949. Two Additional Protocols added on in 1977. These focus on the protection of people that are no longer part, or are not taking part, in the war. Therefore, we can say that the Hague Law focuses on the way the wars are fought and the Geneva Law focuses on how the soldiers and prisoners of war are treated after they stop taking part in the conflict.

There is not one single document that outlines all war crimes, but these two do cover most situations within their guidelines. The 1949 Geneva Conventions were signed by all member states of the United Nations. However, the rules contained in the treaties are considered part of customary and international law. They apply to all member states of the United Nations, even if they have not ratified the treaties themselves.

So, according to the above, war crimes are defined as:
  • Wilful killing
  • Torture or inhumane treatments, including biological experiments
  • Wilfully causing suffering or bodily harm and injury
  • Excessive destruction of civilian or non-military property without a good reason
  • Forcing a prisoner of war to fight for the enemy forces
  • Denying a fair trial to a prisoner of war or other protected people
  • Unlawful deportation or confinement
  • Taking of hostages
Other things that can be considered grave violations of international laws of armed conflict are:
  • Pillaging towns, including those under occupation or assault
  • Committing rapes, sexual assaults and other intrusions to bodily freedom and autonomy of self
  • Intentionally attacking villages, or other civilian areas, which are not part of military objectives
  • Attacking buildings such as schools, churches, hospitals, universities, charity quarters or other places where the sick and wounded are treated with intention, with the provision that they are not military objectives
  • Wounding or killing someone that has surrendered, or laid down their arms, and has no way to defend themselves
The list above doesn't cover everything, but it gives a clear idea that Russia is breaking many international conflict and humanitarian laws with the war in Ukraine.

HORRORS ON THE STREETS OF UKRAINE

The Human Rights Watch are documenting an increasing amount of war crimes against civilians in Ukraine. There are horrific accounts of rape, mass executions, torture, indiscriminate bombings of civilian areas and of children suffering at the hands of the Russian forces. Repeatedly, Ukraine has accused the Kremlin of committing genocide against the Ukrainian civilians. 

The pictures circling Telegram horrify even the steeliest-stomached viewer. Twitter is full of stories from survivors about the traumatizing events that they are forced to endure. With all of this, the international community is quite slow to react. However, the world is waking up to the horrors and increasing their help to Ukraine. At the same time, the European Union and America are pushing for harder sanctions towards Russia. 

One of the first examples of the Russian war crimes is the city of Mariupol, in south-eastern Ukraine. The Russian army has forced the city into a siege since 2nd March. There has been constant shelling and bombing. About 90% of the buildings have been destroyed. People have been hiding in basements and bomb shelters, surviving on minimal food and water. As the siege went on, those resources have been quickly running out. There has also been no heat, no gas and no electricity since the beginning of March. Medicine has also run out. 

Destroyed buildings in Mariupol due to constant shelling (Source: Unknown) 

It has been exceedingly difficult for humanitarian aid to be delivered in the city due to the constant attacks. On top of this, the Russian army has made it hard to evacuate people, even if the humanitarian corridors have been confirmed in the peace talks. The situation in Mariupol has gotten so bad that spokesperson Ewan Watson from the International Committee of the Red Cross said, "We are running out of adjectives to describe the horrors that residents in Mariupol have suffered. The situation is horrendous and deteriorating,"

Another atrocious event that has shocked the West into action was the massacre of Bucha. We covered this in the earlier post about Ramzan Kadyrov and his Chechen army. It is suspected that they were present in the town when the killings happened. About three hundred bodies have been found inside the town since the Russians took over on 30 March. 

The Russian Defence Ministry has denied the massacre in Bucha as ''fake pictures'' used to trigger more sanctions on the Russian Federation. However, satellite images clearly show Bucha's street filled with corpses during the time that it was occupied by the invaders.

Satellite pictures from Bucha shows bodies lying in the streets weeks before liberation from Russians 

Some of the bodies found in Bucha had their hands tied behind their backs when they were shot. Others show signs of torture and cruel beatings. Women and children were found raped and shot by the Russian soldiers, which have been dubbed the Butchers of Bucha. 

A torture room was also found in the basement of a children's sanitorium where five men were bound, tortured, and then killed. This was posted on the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's official Facebook page.

Pictures shared on the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Facebook page about the torture room in Bucha 

STALINISTIC FILTRATION CAMPS

Reports are surfacing that Ukrainian citizens are being deported to ''filtration camps''. They are taken from places like Mariupol, and other places in the Donbas. The Russian invaders take these civilians away from their homes to places in Russia, where their passports and phones are taken away. They are separated from their families. These reports also say that these people are being taken to remote parts of Russia and offered work. 

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reports that 2,389 children from the Donbas region have been forcefully removed from Ukraine. They have been taken to Russia. The government is investigating these ‘‘forceful abductions’’.

WILL THERE BE JUSTICE?

There are two main bodies investigating these crimes, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations Human Rights Council. There are also governmental organisations that are conducting their own investigative bodies such as United States of America, European Union. There are also non-governmental organisations contributing to these efforts such as open-sourced investigators and investigative journalists.

The ICC has proceeded investigative efforts once Ukraine formally accepted their authority in the country. They have exercised their prerogative to the ICC twice for alleged crimes committed on Ukrainian soil. The first declaration was lodged for crimes committed between November 2013 to February 2014. The second declaration is an open investigation from 20 February 2014 onwards. The most recent investigation was instigated after forty countries refereed the situation to the prosecutor of the ICC.

The United Nations Human Rights Council instigated their own investigation on 4th April 2022. This was after the Bucha massacre. This was adopted after a resolution passed in the Council, with a vote of 32 in favour, 2 against, and 13 abstentions. They condemned in the strongest viable way the human rights violations and abuses going on in Ukraine. Everything that is committed by the Russian Federation's aggression against the Ukrainian innocent victims.

CONCLUSION

War crimes are barbaric by nature. What is happening in Ukraine is highly illegal according to international armed conflict and humanitarian law. The best thing we can do right now is to spread awareness of what is going on and report these crimes if we spot anything on social media. War is never good, and oftentimes the ones suffering the most are women and children.

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