Presidential Statement on the Situation in Ukraine

By ABILA President Leila Nadya Sadat

February 22, 2022

On February 21, 2022, after weeks of military buildups and threats, the Russian Federation sent troops into two areas of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region shortly after recognizing them as independent countries and ordered a mass evacuation of the civilian residents there. Russia’s parliament subsequently approved the use of military force in Ukraine.

The Russian Federation’s actions violate core principles of international law, principles that are the foundation of our work as members of the American Branch of the International Law Association.  The use of force against the political independence and territorial integrity of a U.N. Member State, enshrined in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, without prior authorization of the Security Council or pursuant to Article 51’s exception for self-defense, violates the Charter and a fundamental norm of jus cogens character. Acts of aggression and unlawful intervention threaten the peace and security of the world and undermine the fundamental purposes of the United Nations under Article 1(1) of the Charter. States committing them may be subject to sanction, other U.N. Member States have a duty not to recognize the internationally unlawful situation they create, and a criminal investigation may be warranted for any violations of humanitarian law or other crimes committed during the conflict.

Since its founding in 1922, in the wake of a devastating World War, the ABILA has stood up for the rule of law and our work emphasizes the need for negotiation, diplomacy, and the peaceful settlement of international disputes. The invasion of a sovereign nation on Europe’s eastern frontier threatens the peace and stability of the entire region. As Kenya’s Ambassador noted during the emergency session of the Security Council convened to discuss the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, whatever its claims of lost territory may be, Russia must “complete [its] recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression.”

We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and urge the Russian Federation to come back to the negotiating table and withdraw its troops.