FLASH
Shkruar nga Gordon Brown
Victims of the attack that leveled most of Okhmatdyt Hospital include children undergoing transplants and those with cancer and kidney disease.
This week's bombing of the main children's hospital in the heart of Kiev is the latest and most horrific reminder of Vladimir Putin's war crimes. They cannot go unpunished.
The NATO summit in Washington DC is the right moment not only to rededicate the defense of Ukraine, but also to deepen and accelerate the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation into Russian atrocities.
Victims of the attack that leveled most of Okhmatdyt Hospital include children undergoing transplants and those with cancer and kidney disease.
Television footage showed sick children amid the rubble, awaiting evacuation. Their suffering came on a brutal day of multiple attacks across Ukraine, in which at least 41 people were killed and 166 injured.
" We are sending all information and evidence related to the attacks in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities to the ICC prosecutor's office ," said Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin after discussing the attack on the children's hospital with the prosecutor. ICC chief Karim Khan.
These bombings show how indiscriminate Russian missile attacks have become. The number of children killed across Ukraine has risen dramatically – by 40% this year compared to last, and this week's massacre brings the total number of child deaths since the start of the war to more than 600 and brings the number of wounded boys and girls close to 1400.
No one concerned about the rights of the most vulnerable can remain silent as we witness the killing and maiming of innocent children and the indiscriminate attacks on schools and hospitals in Ukraine and elsewhere. But the rights of children in conflict zones are all too often forgotten, as I argued when I wrote about Gaza recently.
Indeed, Russia has already tried to cover it up - denying that it targeted the Kiev hospital and claiming that the children were hit by shrapnel from a Ukrainian air defense missile. They may try to hide the truth, but not for long. Kyiv authorities say they have found remnants of a Russian missile.
Already, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children's rights, for the illegal deportation and abduction of Ukrainian children in Russia. Last month, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russia's former defense minister and its military chief for their involvement in attacks on Ukraine's electrical infrastructure.
And now there is also incontrovertible evidence that Russian soldiers have been involved in the enforced disappearance of people and in sexual violence, torture, ill-treatment and murder, including of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The illegal use of chemical weapons and cluster bombs is also a matter for investigation and, if found to be true, could be another offense categorized as a war crime and crime against humanity.
These crimes are all the result of Putin's original crime of aggression. Ideally, international mechanisms would exist that would allow the prosecution of Russian political and military leaders responsible for illegal acts such as the invasion of Ukraine. But the ICC's jurisdiction is limited to allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, following Ukraine's self-referral in 2013.
It cannot have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression if the aggressor state and the victim state have not acceded to the relevant parts of its statute (the ICC); Russia, of course, has not signed. So far, there has been no agreement on a suitable alternative mechanism to hold Putin accountable for this underlying crime.
Fortunately, the Council of Europe (EC) has considered what action it can take. In May, the Council of Ministers' committee tasked its secretary general with creating a possible draft agreement between the Council of Europe and Ukraine on the establishment of a special tribunal and the statute of such a tribunal. This agreement, the council says, can be supported by an extended agreement for other states that are not members of the Council of Europe, as well as for other international organizations.
KiE cites ongoing, numerous reports of atrocities, violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed by Russian military forces and their proxies in Ukraine. In prosecuting the crime of aggression, a court would also be able to trace the process by which decisions were made within Putin's inner circle to carry it out.
Consultations between over 40 potential member states and other interested states and partners are still ongoing but finally, under the Council of Europe's plan to join Ukraine, Putin can be held accountable.
All countries should have an interest in preventing Putin and his entourage from acting with impunity, which is why it is scandalous that Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, whose country recently took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union , must be providing legitimacy to the Putin regime by visiting Moscow.
I believe that the new UK government, whose Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have already backed the call for action on the crime of aggression, will increase the urgency of bringing the Russian leadership to justice for the full extent of the damage it has caused. It will send a message that there is no place to hide from prosecution for aggressors and no immunity for war criminals, presidents or not. Anger is not enough. Now is the time for action against Putin. / Taken from "The Guardian"
*Gordon Brown is a UN Global Ambassador for Education and was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010*
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