Bucha killings: A turning point
It’s high time the international community holds powerful countries accountable for their follies
The retreat of Russian troops from key regions on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv revealed the most horrific fallout of the month-long war in Eastern Europe in the form of slaughtered civilians, their bodies strewn on the streets, hands bound, and shot in the head. The discovery of a mass grave of around 300 people, with local authorities citing evidence of at least some being freshly dug, marks a grim turning point in the ongoing saga of Russia’s aggression, and may further galvanise the West against Moscow’s revanchist ambitions. Most international groups and western countries are united in proclaiming that war crimes were committed in Bucha, and that Russian soldiers left behind evidence of egregious violations of international laws and the Geneva Conventions. Russia has called the revelations a hoax, and instead sought to blame Ukrainian authorities for staging the bodies. But Moscow has been countered by reporters and activists on the ground and by international organisations analysing satellite images.
The world has been here before, more recently in Aleppo, in Nagorno-Karabakh and in Grozny. Yet, on most occasions where civilians were intentionally targeted by armies, it has chosen to either look the other way or issue effete appeals for peace. The world community and the United Nations (UN), in particular, must ensure that this apathy is not repeated in Ukraine. The international community must assist investigators on the ground to collect evidence of alleged war crimes and build a case against the perpetrators of the atrocities in forums such as the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court (ICC). To be sure, such mechanisms have their own complications — Russia has long rejected the authority of ICC and Moscow’s veto as a permanent member of the UN Security Council adds further hurdles. A number of deadlocked votes in the UN over the past months have shown just how international law enforcement is held hostage to strategic national interests.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said, wars are bad in essence, but agreements such as the Geneva Conventions attempt to limit the destruction to formal combatants and spare civilians. The horrors in Bucha show that the international community has, once again, failed in its remit to hold powerful countries accountable for their follies. It must strengthen its resolve and send out the message that no matter the stature of a country or its power on the international stage, butchering innocent civilians is not acceptable.