Canadian members of parliament voted unanimously on Wednesday to call Russia’s attacks in Ukraine a “genocide.”
The vote began after NDP MP and foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson tabled a motion calling for the House to recognize that “the Russian Federation is committing acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people.”
The parliamentarians agreed that there is “clear and extensive evidence of systemic and massive war crimes against humanity” committed by the Russian Armed Forces led by President Vladimir Putin and others within the Russian Parliament.
Those crimes include, among other crimes, mass atrocities, systematic instances of intentional killing of Ukrainian civilians, desecration of corpses, forcible transfer of Ukrainian children, torture, bodily harm, mental harm, and rape, the motion says.
The Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine began on February 24. There have been widespread accusations of war crimes since then, with some leaders going so far as to say the situation amounts to genocide.
International law defines genocide as the deliberate killing or other serious harm “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it is “absolutely correct” that the term genocide is being used to describe Russia’s conduct. His comments came a day after US President Joe Biden used the term in reference to the invasion of Ukraine.
However, Trudeau was quick to point out that there are “official processes” in place to formally apply that designation.
“As President Biden highlighted, there are official processes around genocide determinations,” Trudeau said at the time. “But I think it’s absolutely correct that more and more people are talking about and using the word ‘genocide’ in terms of what Russia is doing.”
Days later, Defense Minister Anita Anand said there is a “strong argument” that Russia’s “atrocities” amount to genocide.
“I think if you take the definition of genocide, which includes the intent to annihilate a nation in whole or in part, you can make a strong case, even without the use of chemical weapons, that genocide is taking place. Anand said during an interview on CTV’s question period.
Canadian parliamentarians recently declared that China’s treatment of Muslim Uyghurs is genocide. However, Trudeau did not participate in the vote. The then foreign minister, Marc Garneau, officially abstained while the rest of the cabinet was absent.
On Wednesday, Trudeau was present in the House of Commons for question period, but it is unclear if he was still there for the vote on this motion.
Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Genocide Convention, which makes genocide a crime, requires member states to prevent and punish it, and triggers legal consequences against perpetrators.
In this set of circumstances, former Justice Minister and Ambassador to the United Nations Allan Rock said Canada is doing its duty.
“You could say that we are doing what we can to prevent it, providing Ukraine with weapons so that it can defend itself and repel the Russian attack,” Rock told CTVNews.ca.
“We should be, as we are, contributing to the effort to track down the atrocities by Russian forces, amass evidence against them, and be prepared to cooperate and participate in any prosecutions of those responsible.”
In March, the Canadian government referred the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.
We are working with other ICC member states to take this important action as a result of numerous allegations of serious international crimes being committed in Ukraine by Russian forces, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. a statement from Foreign Minister Melanie. Jolly.
“The ICC has our full support and confidence. We call on Russia to cooperate with the court.”
Canada has sent 10 RCMP officers to the ICC to assist in the investigation.
Rock noted, however, that the ICC acts as a backup, only if the country with primary jurisdiction, Ukraine in this case, is unable or unwilling to prosecute.
“It is the Ukrainian courts that have jurisdiction and will want to exercise jurisdiction. But we do not know what will happen in the course of the next few months in the conflict. It may be that in the coming months Ukraine’s ability to investigate and prosecute will be diminished,” he said.
As it stands now, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova is working together with ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan on a joint investigation with other European representatives.
With files from Rachel Aiello of CTV News
Reference-www.ctvnews.ca