Russia/Ukraine: So-called referenda in the occupied territories are in blatant breach of international law

Reacting to information that “voting” has started in the Russian-occupied spots of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine on no matter whether to be part of the Russian Federation, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Jap Europe and Central Asia, explained:

“These so-called ‘referenda’ are a ruse for Russia to illegally annex occupied Ukrainian territory, which would be yet another escalation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and even further evidence of the Kremlin’s profound disregard for intercontinental legislation and the legal rights of people in the territories underneath its occupation. The Fourth Geneva Conference expressly prohibits annexation of occupied territory and other acts by the occupying ability to deprive the occupied inhabitants of the protection of the Conference.”

“These so-named ‘referenda’ and any annexation by Russia that follows have no validity less than worldwide regulation, and, no matter what Russia promises as a final result, these actions will not transform the lawful status underneath international legislation of the territories Russia occupies.

These so-known as ‘referenda’ and any annexation by Russia that follows have no validity beneath global law, and, whatsoever Russia promises as a final result, this sort of actions will not adjust the legal standing under intercontinental legislation of the territories Russia occupies

Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Japanese Europe and Central Asia

“Russia have to respect its obligations as the occupying electrical power below worldwide humanitarian law and cease promptly all illegal actions. It should also quickly conclude its aggression versus Ukraine. All all those responsible for crimes under international regulation, including war crimes, ought to facial area justice.”

Track record

Earlier this week, Russian authorities and their proxies in the Russian-occupied pieces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia areas in Ukraine, introduced their intention to hold “referenda” on accession to the Russian Federation.

On 23 September, representatives of the occupying authorities began earning property visits to accumulate “ballots” from inhabitants. The “referenda” are envisioned to just take 5 days. Occupying Russian authorities have mentioned that on the fifth and closing working day of the “referenda” on 27 September so-called polling stations would be open, but not just before for security motives.

Any endeavor by Russia to alter the lawful status of the territories it controls in Ukraine via occupation, such as in the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions as effectively as Crimea and the metropolis of Sevastopol, are a flagrant violation of the UN Constitution, and a violation of the ideal of their population beneath worldwide humanitarian regulation.

Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Conference states: “Protected people who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived, in any situation or in any fashion whatsoever, of the rewards of the current Convention by any transform introduced, as the final result of the profession of a territory, into the establishments or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded amongst the authorities of the occupied territories and the Occupying Electrical power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole or component of the occupied territory.”