A day after the International Criminal Court (ICJ) directed the Russia to stop its war on Ukraine, the Amnesty International, USA, urged the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate a recent Russian air strike that killed 47 civilians in the city of Chernihiv as a war crime.
These attacks are horrific — and what’s worse, they are likely to be the tip of the iceberg. That’s why, right now, Amnesty said it is using the full breadth and scope its capacity to uncover war crimes and human rights violations in this conflict.
It felt that This work is critical at this moment because their documentation will ultimately be part of what holds Russian leaders accountable for their crimes They aremobilizing all of their resources to protect human rights and lives in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, initiating a global campaign, Amnesty International urged the Russian government to stop the war on Ukraine and also to respect international law and protect civilians.
Since the Russian invasion began on February 24, Amnesty International has been documenting the escalation in violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including the killing and injuring of civilians resulting from indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and infrastructure.
It deplored that strikes on protected objects such as hospitals and schools, the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, such as ballistic missiles and artillery in civilian areas, and the use of banned indiscriminate weapons such as cluster bombs, may constitute war crimes. It said that all perpetrators must be held to account.
Amnesty made it clear that the Russian Federation is acting in clear breach of its obligations under international law. Its actions are blatantly against the rules and principles on which the UN was founded. And it is abusing its position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to shield itself from accountability.
It cautioned that the world is watching their actions. It asserted that the continuation of the use of ballistic missiles, cluster munitions, and other inaccurate explosive weapons causing civilian deaths and injuries is inexcusable.