Amal Clooney pushes for Ukraine war crimes justice
STORY: Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney pushed for justice in possible war crimes in Ukraine at the United Nations on Wednesday urging countries to ensure evidence does not sit in storage as it has done for victims of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
She recalled a 2017 UN vote to preserve that evidence – around the time her children were born.
“But my children are now almost 5 and so far, most of the evidence that has been collected by the UN is in storage because there is no international court to put ISIS on trial. And when survivors ask me how can this be? I can only say I am ashamed.”
‘I am ashamed that there is no system of justice to respond to mass rape and mass slaughter."
Clooney was speaking at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council. She herself is part of an international legal task force advising Ukraine on accountability for victims of the war working with the International Criminal Court.
The ICC's prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into Ukraine a week after Russia's February invasion.
"This is a time when we need to mobilize the law and send it into battle. Not on the side of Ukraine against the Russian Federation, or on the side of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, but on the side of humanity."
Russian diplomat Sergey Leonidchenko described the ICC as a "political instrument."
He accused the U.S. and Britain of hypocrisy for supporting the ICC inquiry in Ukraine after doing
"everything imaginable to shield their own military."
Moscow describes its February 24th invasion of Ukraine as a "special military operation" and denies targeting civilians.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova's office has told Reuters it is preparing war crimes charges against at least seven Russian military personnel.
