Our Experts and Resources on Ukraine

• Professor Marco Sassòli has been appointed on 15 March as one of three experts on a mission to investigate violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Ukraine for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The report was presented on 13 April 2022 by the three experts to the OSCE Permanent Council. Professor Sassòli was in charge of the IHL part of the report. In that part, the mission found that, during the period under consideration, violations of IHL occurred both on the Ukrainian as well as on the Russian sides. It also found that both sides have also, in many instances, respected IHL. The Russian violations are, however, more serious in nature and scale.

• Professor Andrew Clapham participates in a legal task force on accountability for crimes committed in Ukraine created by the government of Ukraine.

• Professors Marco Sassòli and Andrew Clapham participated in this online discussion organized by the International Commission of Jurists on the OSCE Moscow Mechanism report on violations of international law committed following Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (16 May 2022).
• Our Director Professor Gloria Gaggioli spoke at an OSCE/ODIHR Conference on addressing violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Her intervention (starting at 38:10) focused on the states' duty to investigate these violations under international law.

• An article co-authored by Professor Marco Sassòli on the OSCE report to which he contributed (18 April 2022). 
• Professor Marco Sassòli discusses the OSCE report to which he contributed, Ukraine Symposium – Results of a First Enquiry Into Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Ukraine (14 April 2022).
• An article co-authored by our Research Fellow Dr Chiara Redaelli on aggression as a violation of the rights of one's own population, published in the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law (5 April 2022).
• In this Op-ed (in Spanish) Professor Sévane Garibian reflects on the instrumentalisation of victims' remains in the conflict (3 April 2022).
• An article (in Italian) by our Senior Research Fellow Dr Chiara Redealli on the conflict in Ukraine, international law and the need for a reform of the United Nations (29 March 2022).
• In this opinion piece (in French) Professor Sévane Garibian discusses the legal and political issues surrounding the remains of the victims of the armed conflict in Ukraine (13 March 2022).
  
• Blog post by Professor Andrew Clapham in which he discusses – based on his recent book War – whether there are any legal implications behind the designation ‘war’ in this conflict and beyond (5 March 2022).
• In this blog post, Professor Marco Sassòli discusses the application of international humanitarian law by and to proxies: the ‘republics’ of Donetsk and Luhansk (3 March 2022).
• EJIL: Talk! blog post by our Teaching Assistant Pavle Kilibarda on Russia's recognition of the separatist republics in Ukraine as independent States (2 March 2022).

• Interview of our Research Fellow Dr Chiara Redaelli on the Swiss Radio (in Italian, starts at 8:33) on recent developments in Ukraine (18 May 2022)
• Professor Marco Sassoli discusses the key findings of his report on IHL violations in Ukraine under the OSCR Moscow Mechanism (in German),  (5 May 2022).
• Professor Marco Sassoli's comments on Ukraine in the NZZ article (in German, paid access) (26 April 2022).
• Professor Marco Sassòli's interview with Vassilis Kostoulas on the OSCE Report, in Greek and English (18 April 2022). 
• Professor Marco Sassolli comments on Human Rights violations in Ukraine (in French, paid access) (16 April 2022).
• Professor Marco Sassoli comments on the OSCE Report (in French, paid access) (16 April 2022).
• Professor Marco Sassòli, comments on the OSCE report to which he contributed (French, paid access) (16 April 2022).
• Professor Marco Sassoli comments on Human Rights violations in Ukraine (in French, paid access) (15 April 2022).
• Interview of Professor Paola Gaeta (in French) in relation to Joe Biden accusing Vladimir Putine of genocide (14 April 2022).
• German TV interview of Professor Marco Sassoli, on why it's difficult to hold war criminals accountable (14 April 2022).
• Professor Sévane Garibian discusses the commission of war crimes in Ukraine (in French, paid access) (8 April 2022).
• Professor Sévane Garibian (In French, paid access) on the collection of proofs in Urkaine (8 April 2022).
• Professor Paola Gaeta comments (in Italian) on the possible prosecution of Vladimir Putin for war crimes (7 April).
• Professors Andrew Clapham and William Schabas comment on the prosecution of war crimes committed in Ukraine (7 April).
• Interview of Professor Andrew Clapham on possible avenues for accountability, including via the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute senior Russian officials for the crime of aggression related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine (7 April 2022).
• Professor Andrew Clapham comments in a New York Times article on the killings in Bucha (5 April 2022).
• Interview (in French) of Professor Paola Gaeta on the vocabulary of war and abuses (5 April 2022).
• Interview (in Italian) of Professor Andrea Bianchi about the commission of war crimes by Russian troops in Ukraine (3 April 2022).
• Professor Paola Gaeta discusses (in Italian from 25:18) the documentation of violations of IHL in Ukraine and prosecutions related to the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression (24 March 2022).
• In this interview (In French, paid access), Professor Sévane Garibian shares her thoughts on whether the investigation in Ukraine could be an opportunity for new impulse at the International Criminal Court (22 March 2022).
• An article (in French, paid access) on IHL violations in Ukraine, with inputs from Professors Andrew Clapham and Paola Gaeta (21 March 2022).
• Interview of Dr Annyssa Bellal, Senior Research Fellow, about what constitutes a war crime (in French, 15 March 2022).
• An article on the chances of Russia and its leaders to be brought to justice for war crimes committed in Ukraine with inputs from Professor Marco Sassòli (10 March 2022).
• Articles on the limits of sharing images of prisoners of war, with inputs from Professor Marco Sassòli: Heidi.News (in French, 10 March 2022), Le Journal de Montréal (in French, 8 March 2022), and Swissinfo (in Spanish, 8 March 2022).
• Interview of Professor Marco Sassòli (in Italian, from 06:10 to 09:15) on humanitarian corridors in Ukraine (4 March 2022).
• Interview of Professor Paola Gaeta on Russia’s intervention in Ukraine from the perspective of international law (2 March 2022).
• Listen to Professor Marco Sassòli (in Italian, from 19 minutes onwards) who recalls on the Swiss Italian Radio that both parties have now to respect international humanitarian law in the war provoked by Russia's aggression: the aggressor and the defender (2 March 2022).
• Interview (in French) of Professor Vincent Chetail, originally published in the newspaper Le Temps, in which he recalls that the protection afforded by the 1951 Geneva Convention applies to all refugees, whether Ukrainian, African or Syrian (8 March 2022).
• An article in French (paid access) in the newspaper Le Temps, with inputs from our Research Fellow Dr Chiara Redaelli (10 February 2022).
• Interview of Professor Marco Sassòli (in German) about Switzerland's neutrality in relation to the application of sanctions against Russia (6 March 2022).

• In this podcast, Professor Paola Gaeta discusses whether we should call Vladimir Putin a war criminal, the consequences of using such terminology, whether we are witnessing genocide in Ukraine and if Putin talks about Ukrainians in genocidal terms? (12 May 2022).
• In this Matrix Rule of Law Podcast (Episode 1), Professor Andrew Clapham discusses the legal framework governing the war in Ukraine.
• In this Matrix Law Podcast (Episode 30), Professor Andrew Clapham discusses the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, examines the facts through the prism of international law, and explores how international law can be applied and how it might help to calibrate the actions and reactions of the warring parties (15 March 2022).
• In this Matrix Law Podcast (Episode 29), Professor Andrew Clapham discusses the crisis occurring on the Russia Ukraine border, including the international legal obligations to offer assistance should a threat be recognised (18 February 2022)

• UN human rights experts call in this statement on the Russian Federation to immediately end its invasion of Ukraine to avoid further bloodshed and loss of life. It was notably signed by our Swiss Human Rights Chair and UN Special Rapporteur Against Torture Nils Melzer,  Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Visiting Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy and UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Researcher at the Geneva Academy and UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, and Professor Gabriella Citroni, Member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
• Statement by Members of the International Law Association Committee on the Use of Forcecondemning the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine and signed by our Research Fellow Dr Chiara Redaelli who is a member of the Committee on the Use of Force of the International Law Association.
• UN human rights experts call in this statement on the Russian Federation to immediately end its aggression against Ukraine and call off its unnecessary and unprovoked military attack. This statement was notably signed by Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Visiting Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy and UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Researcher at the Geneva Academy and UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, and Professor Gabriella Citroni, Member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

Mariana Katzarova, an alumna of our Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict and the Founder and Chair of RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in War) participated, along with our two faculty members Professors Marco Sassòli and Andrew Clapham in this online discussion organized by the International Commission of Jurists on the OSCE Moscow Mechanism report on violations of international law committed following Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (16 May 2022).

• EJIL:Talk! blog post by Ilya Nuzov – an alumnus of our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and the Head of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Desk at the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) – on whether Ukraine’s International Legion of Territorial Defense should be considered, under IHL as mercenary or combatant (8 March 2022).

• Interview of our LLM alumnus Philip Grant, Director of the NGO TRIAL International, on accountability for war crimes in Ukraine (6 April 2022)
• Interview (on Swiss TV in French) of our LLM alumnus Philip Grant, Director of the NGO TRIAL International, on the possible commission of war crimes in Boutcha (3 April 2022)
• Geneva Solutions interview of our LLM alumna Marion Vironda Dubray – now a scientific collaborator at the research programme Right to Truth, Truth(s) through Rights – on how IHL protects hospitals and caregivers and on whether targeting hospitals is always a war crime (2 March 2022).