International law and human rights
One area that I do not practice in on a daily basis is International Law or Human Rights. But it is the fact that I value them greatly that has caused me to write this blog, in the circumstances of the Russian incursion into Ukraine.
Let’s be clear on a few basics:
The Russian incursion is an unlawful invasion onto foreign sovereign territory, being in breach of 2(4) of the UN Charter. The EU and UN has determined that. There is no other description for it.
One Ukrainian temporary tourist that I met at the weekend on the tube held a placard along the lines of “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine.”
She sent to me horrific pictures and videos of alive people lying with a limb severed, or sleeping in the subway/metro overnight, with their belongings, children, and dogs. Those people included her sister and family who are stuck there. Needless to say, she has hardly slept herself due to the worry. She is totally desperate. I have helped her with guidance on an asylum and accommodation application.
Some people want to avoid the politics behind the situation and just talk about the horror. But it is political situations which cause this kind of horror, and if we do not very directly and honestly consider the background politics, we are doomed to repeat this horror. One can just look at horrific pictures, but the ultimate question is – what can be done about this and why did it happen?
Many less aware people that I know effectively say to me, “Why do you have to get so damn political?” when such difficult questions are raised.
Attributing blame to one side or another comes across to some as unseemly, but by avoiding these difficult questions, we can guarantee that it will happen again. The man primarily to blame for this carnage is the half-crazed dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He has absolutely no mandate from his people- they do not support him. Most have no proper idea of what is going on, because of the suppression of free speech in his country. However, his invasion was no shock. He denied his intention vociferously, but his word is worth nothing. (Of course,
he is not alone in that amongst politicians even in this country.)
There are other world leaders who have failed to condemn him, or only did so when they smelt which way the wind was blowing in the last week of February 2022. And of course, the Conservative Party has benefitted from a slush fund of millions and millions of pounds over the last two decades from Russian oligarch donors whose interests are aligned with sustaining Putin in power. Nothing significant was done after his Russian opponents on English soil were murdered in Salisbury and elsewhere four years ago. The evidence that points to Putin as having ordered that is clear.
Even Sir Keir Starmer, as an eminent QC, has found it impossible to receive a single straight answer from Boris Johnson in Parliament on the tangled web between the oligarchs and the Tories (or indeed on anything else).
One different very positive note to end on:
I have been struck by how the President of Ukraine, Volodomyr Zelenskyy has dealt with this conflict. He has shown himself to be a man of courage, conviction and principle, who has put the people of his country first. He has just made a further application to join the EU. He knows that EU membership would assure peace in the long term, assuming that Putin is not successful in burning Ukraine to the ground now. Indeed, it has been emphasised by many that the existence of the EU trading block, and the obvious inter-dependence that it brings between countries has been the major reason that there has not been serious aggression between the Western European countries for 60
years.
In January 2022, I had not heard of President Zelenskyy. But this young principled law graduate and former comic/actor is a model for any future aspiring politician. When he gave his speech this week remotely to the EU parliament in Brussels from his hidden bunker, he received a standing ovation, and the translator was clearly virtually breaking down, on hearing his moving words.
What a great inspiration to us all.
A Radical Lawyer
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