Written by Alec Janssens
On the 26th of February 2022, Ukraine instituted proceedings against the Russian Federation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning a dispute related to the interpretation, application, and fulfilment of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). Ukraine contends that the claim of “genocide” in the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts, which Russia used as a pretext for its invasion of the country, is completely nonsensical (ICJ, February 2022). As such, Ukraine has requested that the Court reach a judgement and also indicate provisional measures ordering Russia to immediately cease all military operations in the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts (ICJ, February 2022). While the Court has not yet reached a final judgement, it has already released its order on the provisional measures, which will be discussed on this paper.
