Russian invasion sets precedent for future acts of aggression

The Philippine Society of International Law (PSIL) joins the call of the United Nations and the Philippine government in demanding the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of Russian military forces from Ukraine.

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits states from using armed force against the territorial integrity or political independence of other states. Russia’s act of invading and bombing, and maintaining armed forces within Ukraine violates this prohibition. Calling it “special military operations” or any other term does not change the character of Russia’s actions as a full-scale invasion and an unlawful use of force.

Moreover, international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, directs the parties to an armed conflict to limit hostilities solely against military objectives and not against civilians, and to minimize incidental injuries against civilians. The invasion of Ukraine has exacted grave human suffering among innocent civilians, including children. Homes, hospitals, and schools have been indiscriminately razed and destroyed by the hostilities. Over three million Ukrainians have been displaced and have sought refuge in neighboring states, and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the most brazen challenge to the international legal order in recent history. This is not to say that the UN Charter has not been stretched and strained to legitimize the recourse to armed aggression in the past. But the aggression against Ukraine, that is to say, the full-scale armed invasion by one sovereign state against another state, without the thinnest legal veneer, if allowed, will embolden future acts of aggression by other states similarly disinclined to respect the international rule of law, especially in the territorial and maritime disputes in Asia.

With the fast escalating conflict in Ukraine, once again, the world community finds itself on the precipice of a cataclysmic war. The PSIL joins the international community in calling for a return to the paths of diplomacy in order to resolve soonest these disputes through peaceful means, and the immediate cessation of hostilities and violations of human rights and other acts that could amount to international crimes.

THE PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW