Russia skips hearing at International Court of Justice; Ukraine seeks provisional measures to stop war

With the Russia-Ukraine war continuing for the 12th day on March 7, the International Court of Justice convened to hear Ukraine's appeal for an emergency ruling ordering Russia to stop its military invasion.

In a sign of growing belligerence, Russia did not send a delegation to attend the oral proceedings at The Hague.

Ukraine's representative accused Russia of violating the genocide convention to create a pretext to invade its neighbour. Anton Korynevych said, "The world said never again to the twin evils of Nazism, aggression and genocide. Unfortunately, today, Russia has perverted those words. It does not treat the duty to prevent and punish genocide as a sacred obligation. It treats it as a weapon. With its false claim of genocide, Russia uses one pillar of modern international legal order to destroy the other. By falsely claiming genocide to justify its crime of aggression and acts of aggression, Russia has defiled the Genocide Convention."

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The Ukrainian representative added, "Russia consented to your jurisdiction under the Genocide Convention. Now it is abusing and violating that convention in order to kill Ukrainians and destroy Ukraine. Russia must be stopped and the court has a role to play in stopping it. That is why the people of Ukraine, the government of Ukraine, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ask you respectfully but urgently to grant our request for provisional measures."

Kyiv has sought ordering of "provisional measures", or interim orders, by the ICJ to halt Russia's military advance.

Meanwhile, the court regretted Russia's absence at the hearing. Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the ICJ said that Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands had informed judges that "his government did not intend to participate in the oral proceedings."

ICJ's rulings are binding on countries, but there is no framework to directly enforce them.