Holding accountable
Netherlands and Australia launch new legal action against Russia over MH17
3 hours 25 minutes ago; Updated: 2 hours 13 minutes ago
The Netherlands, together with Australia, is starting new legal proceedings against Russia for its role in the MH17 disaster. It concerns a procedure at ICAO, the international civil aviation organization of the United Nations.
The cabinet sees the initiation of the procedure as "an important step," it says in a letter to the House of Representatives.
"The cabinet continues to do everything possible to hold Russia accountable for the downing of flight MH17 and the preservation of the international legal order," said Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra.
"That is what the next of kin are entitled to. The death of 298 civilians, including 196 Dutch citizens, cannot and must not remain without consequences. Current events in Ukraine underline the crucial importance of this," Hoekstra says.
War in Ukraine
Experts say this procedure is the first step towards an indictment at the International Court of Justice. The Netherlands' move comes at a time when Russia has launched a full-scale war in Ukraine.
"This move by the Netherlands has been in preparation for a long time," says political reporter Fons Lambie. "Ever since the end of 2020, after the collapse of talks with Russia, this option has been emphatically on the table. But the Ukrainian war in recent weeks has made one thing clear: if anyone in The Hague still had a glimmer of hope for a rapprochement from the Kremlin... That was already virtually hopeless - and now completely so."
Years of attempts
The Netherlands is taking the step together with Australia. There were also many Australian casualties and the country has previously acted with the Netherlands to hold Russia accountable. For a number of years, the Netherlands has been trying to ensure that Russia, as a country, acknowledges liability and, for example, pays out compensation.
After the disaster in 2014, a criminal investigation was launched, with trials now underway against four individual suspects. In 2018, the Netherlands and Australia officially said: the country Russia is liable. Talks were held, but stopped in October 2020 after the Netherlands joined a lawsuit by relatives against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Since then, involved ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice & Security have looked at various follow-up steps.
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Political commentator Frits Wester on the launch of the proceedings:
"Russia actually doesn't care about all these legal proceedings at the European Court of Human Rights and all these civil proceedings. It is not actually cooperating in anything. The Netherlands and Australia still want to use all legal avenues open to them to get Russia to admit guilt and possibly also pay out compensation. Hence this procedure at the ICAO."
"But you have to be a very huge optimist to believe that this action is going to achieve something. Look at the events in Ukraine, Russia is flouting all international treaties, such as the use of certain weapons. Yet the Netherlands, together with Australia, says it wants to do everything in its power to see if something can still be done about it. This step at the International Civil Aviation Organization possibly opens the way for a new suit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which has to settle disputes between states. There is a glimmer of hope again, but whether it will succeed, I doubt it."
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Chicago Convention
With the downing of flight MH17, Russia violated the Chicago Convention. That 1944 treaty states that countries are obligated to ensure that civil aviation is safe. Article 3bis of the Chicago Convention states that "every State shall refrain from using weapons against civil aircraft" and "that the lives of persons on board" shall not be endangered.
If the ICAO rules that Russia was at fault, it will put more pressure on Moscow to reengage in talks about liability anyway or as a basis for a subsequent lawsuit. By submitting it to the UN organization now, the Netherlands can then go to the International Court of Justice and start proceedings there against Russia.
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