Romania participates in oral arguments before the ICJ in the case Ukraine v. Russian Federation

Romania participated on Wednesday in The Hague before the International Court of Justice, as an intervening State, in oral arguments in the case brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation on charges of genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for reasons of efficiency and good administration of justice and given the extremely close legal positions in this case and the very large number of interveners, Romania, together with Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden, will present a joint pleading.

The current procedural step concerns the examination of the preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation regarding the Court's jurisdiction in this case, the MFA says.

''The oral phase of the proceedings is organised as a continuation of the written phase, in the context of which Romania submitted written observations to the Court on 3 July 2023, with a view to supporting the determination of the Court's jurisdiction to deal with this case,'' the source said.

The hearings are attended by a delegation led by the Director General for Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, designated as Romania's Co-Agent before the ICJ in this case.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlines that participation in these proceedings reflects the importance Romania attaches to compliance with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well as its confidence in the role of the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the UN, in clarifying the correct interpretation and application of the Convention's provisions.

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