Foreign Conflicts
Dail Éireann — 2023-01-31
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Seán Haughey (FF), Dublin Bay North

I believe there is general agreement that there must be full accountability for the individuals responsible for international war crimes in Ukraine. We have all observed Russia's deliberate targeting and killing of civilians, attacks on civilian infrastructure and threat to use nuclear weapons. The question is how we achieve this accountability. Some EU states favour the establishment of a special international tribunal. The European Parliament has passed another resolution along those lines. I do not think we should underestimate the complexity of this matter and the difficulties in gathering evidence and bringing about a prosecution. The Tánaiste said that Ireland favours the establishment of a special international tribunal. Does he also see a role for the ICC? I believe what he has said indicates he does. Is there also a role for the European Court of Human Rights or the International Court of Justice, under the Genocide Convention? There are different international bodies looking at this matter. We need to co-ordinate and decide how best to proceed as a State and within international organisations.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-01-31/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:43+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-01-31