WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the Elie Wiesel Global Atrocities and Prevention Act (P.L. 115-441), and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, led the introduction today of a Senate resolution calling on the president “to support the creation of an international special tribunal to prosecute Russia’s unlawful aggression against Ukraine.” The resolution outlines a sampling of the unprovoked and deliberate actions taken by Russia against civilians in Ukraine.
The resolution places the blame for the atrocities taking place squarely on Vladimir Putin and calls on the White House to put forward a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly to ensure there is accountability at the highest level. The resolution states: “Whereas the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Ukraine, but it does not have jurisdiction over crimes of aggression in Ukraine because neither Ukraine nor the Russian Federation have ratified the Rome Statute and its amendments related to the crime of aggression; Whereas the Russian Federation has committed manifest aggression against the Ukrainian state for which its leadership must be held accountable; Whereas the international community must hold those responsible for these atrocities to account for their actions, including Russian President Putin and all of the Members of the Security Council of Russia…”
The resolution condemns “in the strongest terms, the Russian Federation’s full-scale war and aggression against Ukraine; regards the Russian Federation’s aggression in Ukraine as an affront to humanity and in contravention of international law; calls on the United States to use its voice and vote in international institutions to support the creation of a special international criminal tribunal to hold accountable the leaders of the Russian Federation who led and sanctioned aggression in Ukraine…”
The United States Senate “stands with people of Ukraine in support of their freedom and Ukraine’s sovereignty against tyranny,” it concludes.
Full text of the Senate Resolution follows and can be found at this link.
Whereas on February 24, 2022, Russia unleashed a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in contravention of international law and the Charter of the United Nations;
Whereas the Russian armed forces committed mass atrocities in Bucha, Irpin, Kherson, Izyum, Mariupol, Dnipro, and Ukrainian towns occupied by the Russian Federation, including rape, summary execution, and unlawful violence and threats against civilians;
Whereas the Russian armed forces deliberately choose to target civilian infrastructure to terrorize Ukrainian citizens;
Whereas on September 21, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated to the United Nations General Assembly that an aggression tribunal must be established as a “signal to all ‘would-be’ aggressors, that they must value peace or be brought to responsibility by the world”;
Whereas on January 19, 2023, the European Parliament, by a vote of 472 to 19, called for the establishment of “a special international criminal tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine” in order to “send a very clear signal to both Russian society and the international community that Putin and the Russian political and military leadership can be convicted for the crime of aggression in Ukraine”;
Whereas on March 27, 2023, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Dr. Beth Van Schaack, stated, “There is no question that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a manifest violation of the UN Charter.”;
Whereas Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations states, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”;
Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 14, 1974, defines aggression as “the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as set out in this Definition”;
Whereas Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as amended by Resolution RC/Res. 6, adopted by the Review Conference at the 13th plenary meeting on June 11, 2010, states, in part: “For the purpose of this Statute, ‘crime of aggression’ means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.”;
Whereas on March 17, 2023, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for their responsibility in the war crimes of unlawful deportation and transfer of children, and the International Criminal Court continues to investigate other international crimes within its jurisdiction that have been committed in Ukraine;
Whereas the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Ukraine, but it does not have jurisdiction over crimes of aggression in Ukraine because neither Ukraine nor the Russian Federation have ratified the Rome Statute and its amendments related to the crime of aggression;
Whereas the Russian Federation has committed manifest aggression against the Ukrainian state for which its leadership must be held accountable;
Whereas the international community must hold those responsible for these atrocities to account for their actions, including Russian President Putin and all of the Members of the Security Council of Russia; and
Whereas an international special tribunal must be based on the adoption of a United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate—
(1) condemns, in the strongest terms, the Russian Federation’s full-scale war and aggression against Ukraine;
(2) regards the Russian Federation’s aggression in Ukraine as an affront to humanity and in contravention of international law;
(3) calls on the United States to use its voice and vote in international institutions to support the creation of a special international criminal tribunal to hold accountable the leaders of the Russian Federation who led and sanctioned aggression in Ukraine;
(4) states its expectation that such a tribunal will be formed pursuant to a United Nations General Assembly resolution put forward by friends of Ukraine that would—
(A) direct the Secretary General of the United Nations to negotiate with Ukraine the terms of the tribunal’s scope; and
(B) ensure that the role of the United Nations—
(i) would be complementary to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court; and
(ii) would not limit or affect the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, including its exercise of jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possible genocide committed in the context of Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine; and
(5) stands with people of Ukraine in support of their freedom and Ukraine’s sovereignty against tyranny.
###
