Providing a pathway to peace: Penelope Ridings discusses the role of international law in resolving the Russo-Ukraine conflict.

AuthorRidings, Penelope

International crises lead international lawyers to explain international law, lead politicians to invoke international legal arguments to justify their actions and lead the media and public to characterise international law and multilateral institutions as toothless tigers. I will respond to each of these three areas, addressing

* international law as it relates to the conflict,

* the responses of multilateral institutions, including the United Nations and New Zealand's engagement with these efforts and then,

* the ability of international law and organisations such as the United Nations to help resolve the conflict.

My key point is that, despite the criticisms, international law and multilateral institutions provide a pathway to addressing international conflicts.

Regarding international law as it relates to the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian invasion is contrary to the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity of another member state. This is clear. International humanitarian law, or what we call the law of armed conflict, is unambiguous. It prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians or civilian objects, and in particular apartment buildings, schools, kindergartens, hospitals and oil and electricity facilities.

It is also illegal to attack nuclear power facilities. Such action is particularly dangerous because of the possibility of radioactive fallout. International law also prohibits indiscriminate attacks. These include the use of certain weapons in dense urban areas, such as cluster munitions or thermobaric vacume bombs, where there is a huge risk of hitting civilians. There are also prohibitions against the use of chemical weapons. Those involved in illegal action during war risk being found guilty of war crimes by either domestic or international tribunals. There is also, of course, an individual and collective right of self-defence and response to an armed attack under the UN Charter, and this justifies the Ukrainian action in self-defence and the military support given to Ukraine to date.

Vigorous response

The international community has responded vigorously to the Russian invasion and words unprecedented have been used. We have seen Russia on 25 February veto the draft UN Security Council resolution calling on Russia to cease its attack on Ukraine and withdraw its forces. This led to the invoking of the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, which sets out that the UN General Assembly can act when...

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