Switzerland supports creation of special tribunal on Ukraine
Switzerland supports the idea of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced on Tuesday in New York. He participated in an exchange on the International Criminal Court (ICC), on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the “illegal deportation” of thousands of Ukrainian children since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but it has no jurisdiction to investigate the crime of aggression in Ukraine. This is why the idea is circulating among diplomats of setting up a special UN tribunal.
More
The challenges of bringing Russian war crimes to justice
Cassis specified that such a special court should be established within the multilateral framework and with balanced international support.
Swiss President Alain Berset had earlier criticised Russia in his speech to the UN General Assembly. “By launching a war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian Federation has not only attacked a peaceful country, but also international law and multilateralism,” he said.
The head of the Federal Department of the Interior regretted that this aggression was the work of a permanent member of the UN Security Council, an organ which is, according to the United Nations charter, “responsible for the maintenance of world peace and international security”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to address the UN Security Council on Wednesday for the first time since the start of the war. The meeting is taking place at the highest level and many leaders are expected to speak.
+ Switzerland ready to help prosecute war crimes
Russia will be represented by its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who arrived in New York on Tuesday evening. It is not clear whether he will attend President Zelensky’s speech in person or be represented during his speech, as was already the case during a meeting of the council at the level of heads of diplomacy.
As a member of the Security Council until the end of 2024, Switzerland, represented by Berset and Cassis, will also be present.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
More
Does democracy really make the world more peaceful?
More
Will Switzerland finally do away with imputed rental-value tax on homeowners?
More
Foreign policy looms large as Swiss parliament begins autumn session
More
Racist chats among Lausanne police – an isolated case in Switzerland?
More
Swiss divisions highlighted by vote on imputed rental-value tax
News
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.