Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

OPINION: Sweden understands that Ukraine needs the law as well as weapons

The decision of Swedish prosecutors to launch an investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine shows the country using international law as surprisingly effective tool, argues Olga Kuchmiienko, a Ukrainian lawyer based in Sweden.

Published: 5 April 2022 19:25 CEST
OPINION: Sweden understands that Ukraine needs the law as well as weapons
Karim Khan, a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, has announced an investigation against war crimes in Ukraine. Photo: International Criminal Court.

This week, people across the world have seen pictures of the horrible consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine in the cities of Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel, with cities destroyed, civilians killed and sexual violence committed against Ukrainian women.

Sweden has reacted immediately.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority has launched an investigation into war crimes with the aim of securing evidence that could be used in future legal proceedings, either in Sweden or in the International Criminal Court (ICC). In addition, Sweden’s Prime Minister, Magdalena Andersson, has pledged to provide financial support and legal expertise in a future ICC investigation.

“The terrible images of destruction and reported executions of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine in wake of Russian aggression are reminiscent of darkest scenes from European history,” she said in a tweet.

“Attacks against civilians, executions, and rape are war crimes,” tweeted Ann Linde, Sweden’s minister of foreign affairs. “Those responsible must be held to account.”

Sweden’s support for the ICC shows that supporting legal processes, as well as military and economic support, can be a way of countering Russian aggression. 

International law, which is often unsatisfyingly slow and frequently criticized for being toothless, has shown itself to be surprisingly effective.

Since the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Eastern Ukraine in 2014, dozens of legal proceedings have been launched and are pending against Russia in international courts, alleging that, firstly, armed conflict between nations took place in Eastern Ukraine, and secondly, that Russia has had effective control over Crimea since 2014.

Yet Russia has made brazen attempts to assert that it is fully in compliance with the rules and norms of international law. 

Readers of The Local will hardly need reminding of the full-scale war Russia has been waging in Ukraine since 24 February 2022.

Russian actions against Ukraine represent an unprecedented violation of international law and human rights, including:

  • the invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory
  • the kidnapping and killing of civilians
  • the destruction of residential areas
  • the targeting of humanitarian corridors and of historical and cultural objects
  • and even the threat of nuclear weapons

Unfortunately, all these facts have been confirmed. 

These violations are so serious and so obvious that from the first weeks of the war, Russia has been the subject of several new proceedings in international courts.

Whereas typical processing times are measured in months or even years from the start of proceedings to a decision, in one example it took less than a week from the day Ukraine submitted its application for a court to reach an interim decision. 

So what are the main proceedings currently underway against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine?

1. International Court of Justice (“ICJ”).

On 26 February 2022, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia at the ICJ under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”). On 16 March 2022, the ICJ ordered Russia to: i) immediately suspend the military operations it commenced on 24 February 2022 in Ukraine, and ii) ensure that nobody, including any military or irregular armed units, take any steps in furtherance of the military operations.

What does it mean? It means that ICJ is convinced that:

  • Russian troops are in the territory of Ukraine;
  • Russian troops initiated and are conducting prohibited military operations against Ukraine; and
  • Russian troops must leave the territory of Ukraine.

It goes without saying that Russia is currently in breach of the ICJ’s order.

2. International Criminal Court (“ICC”).

On 28 February 2022, the ICC prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan QC decided to investigate alleged Russian war crimes (targeting of civilians, infrastructure, or property) and crimes against humanity (widespread or systematic attacks directed against a civilian population) occurring in Ukraine. The ICC was spurred into action following referrals from ICC member states urging an investigation, with 41 member states submitting referrals as of 14 March 2022.

What does it mean? Almost 50 states have made referrals (including Sweden) to the ICC about allegations of the most serious violations of international law: war crimes and crimes against humanity.  

3. European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”).

It took less than 24 hours for the ECHR to react, from the day Ukraine applied for help in relation to “massive human rights violations being committed by Russian troops in the course of the military aggression against the sovereign territory of Ukraine”.

On 1 March 2022, the ECHR confirmed that Russian military action gives rise to a real and continuing risk of serious violations of human rights, protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular:

  • the right to life;
  • prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and
  • right to respect for private and family life.

What does it mean? In less than 24 hours, the court’s judges concluded that Russia had started a military operation in Ukraine that violated basic human rights.

What else can be done?

International courts are starting legal proceedings in the most efficient ways, and Sweden is showing an example by providing strong support for Ukraine. But to prevent more crimes, more actions are needed, including but not limited to:

  1. Supporting, by all possible means, efforts to investigate and prosecute the ongoing crime of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
  2. Intensifying sanctions against Russia and Belarus, including but not limited to the disconnection of all Russian and Belarusian banks from SWIFT.
  3. Closing ports for Russia’s vessels or vessels hired by any Russian companies; prohibiting the leasing of vessels, providing crew services, and bunkering services to Russian entities or entities shipping goods purchased from Russian entities. 

Conclusion

Russian aggression against Ukraine has a long history and was previously considered to be simply “politics”. However, Russia’s invasion of 24th February 2022 marks a clear turning point.

It is now clear for everyone, from international legal authorities and governments to ordinary citizens with only a passing interest in politics.  Russia started an illegal war in Ukraine and is committing unprecedented violations of human rights. The second turning point is 3rd April 2022, when the world saw clear evidence of Russia committing serious war crimes against Ukrainians.

Ukrainians all over the world are grateful to Sweden and other nations for their assistance in our hour of need. Together we can stand against the most serious violations of human rights and international law. 

Olga Kuchmiienko, Ph.D.

Ukrainian citizen living in Sweden. Attorney-at-Law (Ukrainian qualified). Head of International Law Committee of Ukrainian Bar Association. Ukrainian National Bar Association Representative in Sweden

#standwithukraine 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

OPINION: Swedes, it’s time to embrace language barriers, not avoid them

In a recent article in Dagens Nyheter, journalist Alex Schulman praises the Danish coach of Sweden's football team for speaking English in press conferences. Wouldn't it be better to embrace the Danish-Swedish language barrier, instead of avoiding it, asks The Local's deputy editor Becky Waterton.

Published: 20 March 2024 11:44 CET
OPINION: Swedes, it's time to embrace language barriers, not avoid them

For most immigrants, language barriers are a fact of life. Whether that’s trying to decipher the syllables of a Swedish sentence as a new learner or being met with a blank stare when we try to order a coffee for the first time in Swedish, it’s a natural part of getting to know a new country.

Swedes, on the other hand, seem to find language barriers intensely awkward, doing whatever they can to either avoid them or pretend they don’t exist.

One example is a new learner of Swedish speaking a heavily accented or grammatically incorrect version of the language, which may be difficult to understand. Often, a Swede facing this scenario will switch to English or plough through the conversation pretending they understand the other person’s broken Swedish, either out of fear of offending or in order to save face. 

Neither of these solutions are really ideal, as they both deprive the new learner of Swedish a chance to improve, which perpetuates the language barrier itself, and can even make communication impossible if the person speaking broken Swedish doesn’t understand any English at all.

How will you ever learn that you’re saying something wrong in Swedish to the extent that it’s incomprehensible if everyone around you just pretends they understand you or never corrects you?

This also applies to pan-Scandinavian communication, where journalist and author Alex Schulman is firmly in the “switch to English” camp. 

In a recent article in Dagens Nyheter, Schulman mentions attending a book fair in Copenhagen, where he struggled to communicate with his Danish editor in the taxi from the airport. This inability to understand Danish only becomes more obvious when he gets up on stage for an interview in Danish.

“It was parodical, obviously. The interviewer asked questions, which I didn’t understand, and then I answered completely different things in Swedish, which she didn’t understand, in front of an audience who didn’t understand anything,” he writes.

He mentions this like it’s a funny anecdote – and to be fair, he might be exaggerating for comedic effect – but I can’t help but feel it would have been better for everyone if he’d just been honest about the language barrier in advance, instead of going all the way to Copenhagen to apparently waste the time of his editor, interviewer and audience by clearly not being able to communicate with them. 

Now, my issue is not that he can’t understand Danish – the two languages are considered mutually intelligible, but in reality many Scandinavians find it hard to understand each other without making any effort – but surely he knew in advance that they would be speaking Danish? 

Would it not have been better to say “hey, I’m not great at Danish, so you might need to speak a bit slower, or is it possible for you to repeat some of the questions in English?”, or to listen to a few Danish podcasts or radio shows in advance to get an ear for the language, instead of just pretending to know what everyone is saying?

READ ALSO:

Isn’t the best response when meeting a language barrier working together to overcome it? 

I saw a great example of this in an unlikely place – the new series of Swedish gardening show Trädgårdstider.

Former host Tareq Taylor, a Swede, had to move to Stockholm last year and drop out of the show, which is filmed hours away in Skåne. His replacement is Danish chef and TV presenter Adam Aamann, who doesn’t speak Swedish. The other three hosts, Malin Persson, Pernilla Månsson Colt and John Taylor (no relation), don’t speak Danish, they speak Swedish.

The hosts of Trädgårdstider from left to right: Pernilla Månsson Colt, Malin Persson, Adam Aamann and John Taylor. Photo: Niklas Forshell/SVT

Of course, the group could have switched to English when Aamann was around, but in a preview for next week’s episode (Tuesday 8pm on SVT1 or SVTPlay), I found it refreshing how public broadcaster SVT has chosen to stand up for Scandinavian mutual intelligibility, with the Swedes speaking Swedish and the Dane speaking Danish (with Swedish subtitles for viewers at home, but it’s a start at least).

This isn’t without its issues – Taylor and Aamann have a moment of confusion when trying to figure out what different vegetables are called in each language – but instead of giving up entirely, they work together to overcome the barrier.

Sure, they use English as a helping hand in communication – Taylor, who is English, gives Aamann the English name of one vegetable when he realises Swedish isn’t working – but once they’ve figured out the issue, the pair switch back to their Scandinavian languages.

This also has an extra benefit for both of them, as not only do they get over the linguistic hurdle, but in not switching directly to English they also learn the word for the vegetable in question in each other’s languages too, meaning that they won’t come across this particular language barrier with each other or with another speaker of Danish or Swedish again.

It also takes the audience into account – instead of switching to English and alienating any viewers who don’t speak it, they stick to their Scandinavian languages and will hopefully increase the Swedish audience’s understanding of Danish, too.

In Schulman’s article, he describes his relief when the new Danish coach of the Swedish football team, Jon Dahl Tomasson, announced that he was planning to speak English, instead of Danish, in press conferences in Sweden.

“It was so refreshing, because suddenly, there he stood – a Dane who you could understand for the first time in your life.”

The new Danish coach of Sweden’s national football team, Jon Dahl Tomasson. Photo: Stefan Jerrevång/TT

“I’ve been so happy that I’m at the point of tears, because I think Tomasson’s decision could set a new standard, I think this will give Swedes confidence. We’re building a new relationship with Denmark now, and in that relationship the language we use is English. It’s a relationship where we understand each other for the first time,” he writes.

I’m glad Schulman can understand a Dane for the first time, but I think he’s missing the point somewhat.

If Swedes and Danes speaking their own languages actively tried – together – to understand each other when they come across language barriers between the two languages instead of immediately turning to English, they’d be much better at actually understanding each other’s language in the first place, and the shared work to overcome the barrier would probably bring them closer, too.

English can be a useful tool to aid comprehension, but if you just switch to it whenever you come across the smallest amount of resistance in a conversation, you’re perpetuating language barriers when you could be breaking them down together.

Language barriers are an opportunity rather than an embarrassing moment we should pretend to ignore. We’ll only learn how to speak to each other in a way that everyone understands if we’re honest with each other about the communication issues we have.

SHOW COMMENTS