Thread by @mariekedehoon

#Russia is committing an act of aggression. This is what the UN was created for in 1945 after WWII, to react against together: the collective security system. All states now have the right to use military force against Russia under the right to collective self defense of #Ukraine

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1495974341275750402

But they don't just have the "right" to do so, they have the duty. The UN was made for this. Its Preamble starts with vowing that this is what they would stand against together. Now all those 193 UN states (- 1, #Russia) should put their military where their mouth is. #Ukraine

The UN 1974 "Definition of Aggression" stipulated that "no territorial acquisition resulting from aggression is or shall be recognized as lawful". Yet: Crimea in 2014 and now this. If all states would stand together against aggression #Russia wouldn't dare or be able to do this.

Since 2018, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, the supreme crime . #Ukraine has accepted the ICC's territorial jurisdiction and so now the ICC has its first clear-cut crime of aggression situation, and could (should) investigate Putin.

I wrote my PhD on this, warning how such a case could tear apart the ICC. But here we are. The ICC cannot not take this one up. Yet #Russia will try and eat ICC alive with its twisting of the law to argue it protects human rights (after passportization). academic.oup.com/ejil/article/2…

The arguments back & forth in brief are: #Ukraine (and rest of world) can point to Definition of Aggression and UN Charter: recognising DPR/LPR is violation of territorial integrity, passportization is violation non-intervention principle, moving in military is act of aggression.

#Russia repeats strategy developed in Georgia 2008 & Crimea 2014 to claim it is assisting people there with their right to self-determination and protecting them against supposed human rights violations by #Ukraine. And that this would give them right (duty) to protect and invade

#Russia's #passportization 2.0 strategy in #Ukraine: in Georgia/Crimea it already gave passports to then argue it could protect its own nationals, eating up territory bit by bit. Now, it attached further incentives by providing services/goods only to those that took the passport.

#Passportization is ever so clever: After giving people passports, #Russia then argues it has right to protect its nationals. Same with #selfdetermination: invoking international law but twisting it as if Russia protects human rights and would be allowed to use force. #aggression