Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland condemns the further invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, which is an unjustified and illegal act of aggression contrary to international law. We support initiatives to bring to account perpetrators of atrocity crimes, including war crimes, committed in Ukraine since Russia’s latest invasion of that country in February 2022.

Ireland, along with its EU partners, was one of over 40 States to refer the situation in Ukraine to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in order to pursue accountability for alleged atrocity crimes committed in Ukraine. The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide that have been committed on Ukrainian territory since 2013. In March 2022, the Prosecutor of the ICC commenced a formal investigation into the situation in Ukraine.

Ireland voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution adopted in March, which demanded that Russia immediately withdraw all of its military forces from Ukraine, and a resolution adopted in November, recommending that States establish an international register of damage, loss or injury, arising from the internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation in or against Ukraine. Ireland also co-sponsored a resolution of the UN Human Rights Council establishing a Commission of Inquiry on alleged violations and abuses of human rights violations and international humanitarian law in the context of the Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

On 19 September 2022, Ireland filed a Declaration of Intervention in the case brought by Ukraine against Russia under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice. Ireland’s intervention argues that the use of force by Russia on the pretext of a false allegation of genocide in Ukraine is a serious violation of the Genocide Convention.

Ireland is one of a number of states that have applied to the European Court of Human Rights for leave to intervene as a third party in proceedings arising from the invasion of Ukraine (Ukraine v Russian Federation (X)).