Application of international law to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine violates international law and raises serious questions regarding the protection of human rights, including international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Several aspects of international law's relationship to this situation include:

1. International humanitarian law: the Russian invasion of Ukraine violates the principles of international humanitarian law, in particular, regarding the protection of civilians in conflict, the prohibition of illegal invasion, as well as the obligations of the parties to the conflict to ensure access to humanitarian aid and medical care.

International humanitarian law (IHL) is a branch of international law that aims to ensure the protection of human rights in conflict and settle armed conflicts. Its goals are to alleviate the suffering of people suffering from conflicts, to reduce the number of civilian casualties, to protect doctors and medical facilities, and to help provide humanitarian aid to the population in the event of a conflict.

The main principles of IHL include the prohibition of forced displacement of the population, special protection for women, children, nurses, doctors, non-involvement of the civilian population in military operations, access to humanitarian aid, and the dissemination of propaganda for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The main documents of IHL are the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additions (protocols), which contain rules regarding the treatment of participants in armed conflicts. In addition, IHL includes a large number of other international documents, such as the Statute of the International Criminal Court, which fill the gaps in IHL norms and expand its scope of application.

2. International criminal law: Prosecution of possible violations of international law as a result of the Russian invasion can be done through mechanisms of international criminal law, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is an organization that examines cases of serious international humanitarian and criminal violations.

International criminal law (ICC) is a branch of international law that aims to prevent and punish the most serious crimes of an international nature, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, genocide and aggression.

The ICC includes legal norms according to which guilty persons are subject to criminal liability for committing crimes that threaten international security and peace. A fundamental characteristic of the ICC is that it exercises judicial jurisdiction outside the state and allows punishment for crimes regardless of the place of commission and the nationality of the criminal.

The Ukrainian government qualifies Russia's actions as direct aggression and calls on the entire international community to recognize the fact of aggression. Indeed, in a situation where the parties to the conflict are the Russian Federation and Ukraine, then it is inevitably qualified as an international armed conflict, where Russia is shelling our territory with the help of its armed forces and exercising "general" or "mediated" control over anti-Ukrainian armed formations.

The law of international armed conflicts applies to these interactions. From time immemorial, wars have had rules. But only in 1864 they were written down on paper for the first time. The First Geneva Convention became the document that began the history of international humanitarian law (IHL), which limits the cruelty of war. The conduct of war is a constantly changing phenomenon and, accordingly, international human rights law and international humanitarian law must be constantly adapted to prevent gaps in the protection they provide [8]. Changes in the law arise mainly from the practice of various bodies that control the proper functioning of the system. The term "war" and "belligerents" were enshrined in the Hague Convention of 1907.

In the second half of the 20th century, the concept of "war" in its original meaning was abandoned. Instead of the term "war", the term "armed conflict" is being used. According to the definition proposed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, an armed conflict is an armed confrontation between states, or a prolonged armed confrontation between government authorities and organized armed groups, or only between organized armed groups.

The main documents of the International Criminal Court are the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was established in 2002 and has judicial jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes of aggression and genocide, as well as a number of other international conventions and protocols. which expand the range of its actions. In addition, the ICC also has a national level of application, when states incorporate the norms of the ICC into their national laws and exercise judicial jurisdiction at the domestic level.

It should be noted that Art. 38 The Charter of the International Court of Justice of the United Nations establishes a list of those sources of international law that are used by the court when considering cases. These are international treaties (general and special), international customs, general principles recognized by civilized nations, judicial precedents and doctrines. The norms of international law regulating the conduct of military operations were codified in two Hague conventions of the world in 1899 and 1907. These norms in international humanitarian law were called "Hague law". In 1949, four conventions on the protection of war victims were adopted in Geneva. The norms of these conventions, as well as two additional protocols to them of 1977, in international humanitarian law were called "Geneva law".

The application of international law to the Russian invasion of Ukraine requires the establishment of responsibility for violations of human rights and international law. All states and other parties to armed conflicts are obliged under all circumstances to observe IHL and ensure its observance. They must use their influence to prevent and stop violations of IHL and prevent such violations by other parties to the conflict. In recent decades, armed conflicts have claimed millions of civilian lives. Serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law have become a common practice in many armed conflicts. Under certain conditions, some of these violations may also qualify as genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.

Over the past two decades, governments, opposition groups, politicians, diplomats, activists, protesters and journalists have invoked international humanitarian and human rights law in relation to armed conflict. These types of rights are regularly mentioned in UN Security Council resolutions, UN Human Rights Council debates, political speeches by opposition movements and reports by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in military training and during diplomatic negotiations.

If earlier during the war between states, only international humanitarian law (IHL) was applied, and international human rights law (IHRL) was not, because it was created mostly to protect people in peacetime, today there is an increasing interpenetration of IHL and IHRL. The norms of the latter are increasingly applied during armed conflicts, and regional human rights courts are increasingly referring to the rules of conduct of armed conflicts when assessing whether there has been a violation of the provisions of the ICCPR.

Civilians are the main victims of violations of international humanitarian law in conflicts. Modern conflicts complicate the observance of international humanitarian law in many areas, including modern technologies and the classification of conflicts. We need to understand and address these challenges so that IHL maintains its protective function. All states and other parties to armed conflicts are obliged under all circumstances to observe IHL and ensure its observance.

They must use their influence to prevent and stop violations of international humanitarian law and prevent such violations by other parties to the conflict.