Russia and China Veto Resolution to Refer Syria to International Criminal Court

A day after signing the mutual agreement that would ensure gas supply to China for years to come boosting economic boost and diplomatic ties between Beijing and Russia, the two countries joined hands to block a UN Security Council draft resolution allowing the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate war crimes committed during the three years of fratricidal conflict in Syria.

Exercising their right of veto, Russia and China were the only two countries that voted against Council. Not that the news was a surprise, but Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadi Gatilov had earlier called draft presented by France as ” unacceptable”. Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, not even bother to valuation, as his colleague, he just simply comment upon entering the meeting for the vote that he would say ” was boringly predictable.”

Moscow described the French attempt to bring Syrians war crimes before the ICC as “a publicity stunt” that only hurt efforts to find a political solution to the crisis. The Syrian government labeled the French – supported resolution for more than 60 countries – of “biased” and aimed at “sabotaging any chance of a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis through its people.”

It different from the Russian attitude was that of China, so far the vote was subdued and cautious about what would be the meaning of their vote. The conflict in Syria has estimated to have killed more than 160,000 people and about 10 million have been driven their homes during the past three years.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said after the vote due to the alliance between Russia and China to “support the Assad regime at all costs, the Syrian people will not have justice.” Power warned Moscow and Beijing that such vetoes “help impunity, not only Assad, but also the terrorist groups” operating in Syria and have been repeatedly denounced by the regime in Damascus and the Kremlin.

Syria has not ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty that is the basis of the International Criminal Court. So unless the Damascus government ratifies the treaty or accept the Court’s jurisdiction through a declaration, the only way we can make way for the Court to act against Syria is whether the Board of security presents the case. This is not the first time the Council intervenes and brings cases before the ICC. Already did with Darfur or Libya. And in both cases, were far fewer countries that signed the petition to intervene.

Frustrated, the initiator of the proposal, the French ambassador, Gerard Araud, reminded the Council what was at stake in saying that the agency “will not forget the crimes that have been committed in Syria, or heads that have been ordered.” “Today is killed, tortured and violated in Syria as part of a deliberate policy to terrorize and punish civilians”  concluded Araud.

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Posted by Jamshed Sindhu on May 24 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.