Anna Ogrenchuk, the UBA President, at the conference of the NYSBA International Section: "The end of the war, punishment of the guilty, full compensation for damages, protection of refugees - these are the goals for which we must unite"
On June 21-22, 2022, the Summer Conference of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) was held in New York. A separate panel discussion was devoted to the war in Ukraine. It was attended by: Sergiy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, and Anna Ogrenchuk, President of the Ukrainian Bar Association, Head of the NYSBA Ukraine Chapter.
Anna Ogrenchuk, the keynote speaker of the panel, noted that during the four months of the full-scale invasion, Russia committed ALL kinds of violations of international humanitarian and criminal law: war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. And national law enforcement agencies are already investigating more than 18,600 violations of the laws and customs of war.
On behalf of the Ukrainian legal community, Anna defined the following steps, which are fundamental for restoring the rule of law in Ukraine:
1) creation of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine;
2) the recognition of Russia's actions in Ukraine as genocide and the fulfillment by member states of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of their obligation under Article 1 of the Convention (prevention of genocide and its punishment);
3) investigation and trial of war crimes based on the principle of universal jurisdiction.
We are grateful to the NYSBA for the partnership and the invitation of the UBA to participate in the event.
