WAR CRIMES
WE totally support Government’s stance on Ukraine, ambiguous as it may appear to be.
Absconding from the United Nations vote on the suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council was the most appropriate in the circumstances.
Ideally, Zambia should have voted for the suspension of Russia for the very egregious and barbaric destruction of life and property in Ukraine where whole neighborhoods have been razed to the ground exacting a huge human toll still to be determined.
There is nothing shocking in the decision as suggested by Economic Front President Wynter Kabimba, who feels that Zambia should have been bold enough to take a position in the vote.
By absconding, Zambia took a stance on the matter, and we support the position. The worst position would have been to vote against the resolution which was supported by the majority of member countries, which have roundly condemned the violation of territorial integrity and subsequent unleashing of untold misery, death and destruction.
The situation in Ukraine is dire. The pattern of both indiscriminate and targeted attacks point to war crimes that will be prosecuted long after the war has ended, whatever the outcome.
By absconding, Zambia joined the rest of humanity in expressing revulsion and disgust at the Russian invasion of Ukraine where untold acts of inhumanity have been exacted on innocent citizens resulting
in more than three million fleeing the country, more
than 12 million displaced internally and many villages razed to the ground in both targeted and indiscriminate bombing.
Shocking images have pervaded media in the last few days, especially those from Bucha, a suburb of the capital, Kyiv, where hundreds of civilian bodies were found in the streets and in mass graves.
All indications point to the fact that thousands of peaceful Ukranians were killed, tortured, raped, abducted and robbed by the Russian Army. These are war crimes.
Although the Russian government characterised the vote as “an attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control to continue its attempt at human rights colonialism in international relations,” this could not be further from the truth.
The vote was a global admission and extreme chastisement of the Russian regime for the brutality and wanton abuse of humanity by the international community of the suffering to which the innocent Ukrainian population has been subjected as a result of the political decision taken by the Russian President to violate the territorial integrity of another member country of the United Nations.
By definition, war crimes and crimes against humanity are among the gravest crimes in international law. Until World War 11, it was generally agreed that horrors of war were part and parcel of war but the situation changed with the murder of several million people - mainly Jews - by Nazi Germany, and the mistreatment of both civilians and prisoners of war by the Japanese.
War crimes involve violations of the laws or customs of war, including: Atrocities or offences against persons or property, constituting violations of the laws or customs of war, murder, ill treatment, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages and devastation not justified by military necessity.
And crimes against Humanity include murder, extermination, mass systematic rape and sexual enslavement in a time of war and other inhumane acts.