President Putin is to initiate Russia’s withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the International Fact-Finding Commission. Draft bill on the website of the State Duma of Russia.

The Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 on the Protection of Victims of Armed Conflict, adopted by all states of the world, provide protection for sick, wounded, shipwrecked, civilians and prisoners of war, protection of the medical service, medical workers, medical units and institutions and sanitary vehicles. But these Conventions did not cover several important aspects, for example, the protection of civilians from hostilities and their consequences. To fill these gaps, two Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1977, supplementing the 1949 Geneva Conventions:

• · Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I)
• · Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II)

(see e.g. ICRC Website)

Protocol I attempts to establish an international institution to investigate violations of International Humanitarian Law during international conflicts. Article 90 of Protocol I provides for the establishment of an International Fact-Finding Commission to investigate serious violations of the Geneva Conventions and Protocol I.

Any State could accept the compulsory jurisdiction of this Commission or not.

If the State voluntarily accepted the Commission’s right to investigate any violations of the Geneva Conventions and Protocol I committed by that State during the international conflict, then upon ratification of the Protocols, it should have made a corresponding statement.

If a State did not make such a statement upon ratification of the Protocols, the International Commission may investigate violations of the norms of International Humanitarian Law committed by that State only upon the consent of that State.

Additional information on the activities of the Commission is here.

The Soviet Union only ratified the Additional Protocols (I and II) on August 4, 1989 – after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan (which took place in February 1989). The corresponding Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was signed by M. Gorbachev. Along with the ratification of the Protocols, the same Decree made a statement recognizing the jurisdiction of the International Commission:

“The USSR recognizes ipso facto and without special agreement in relation to any other High Contracting Party that assumes the same obligation, the competence of the International Fact-Finding Commission.”

And now, Russia is falling outside the jurisdiction of the International Fact-Finding Commission. Currently, Russia is participating in two conflicts – in Syria and in Ukraine. The bill brought in by the President of Russia, if supported by the Federal Assembly of Russia (which is out of doubt), means that the International Commission alone will not be able to initiate investigations into cases of Russian violation of the norms of International Humanitarian Law during the operation in Syria, and if it is recognized that the conflict in Ukraine is international, then in Ukraine as well.

Sergei Krivenko

Expert of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights,

Moscow, 21 October 2019