By Betul Yuruk
UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The three Baltic states threw their support behind a EU proposal to establish an UN-backed special international tribunal to hold Russian leadership accountable for war crimes in Ukraine.
Latvia's UN envoy told the Security Council that his country would strongly support prosecuting ''the crime of aggression'' against Ukraine to ''further strengthen'' international criminal justice.
Speaking on behalf of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Andrejs Pildegovics said that currently there is no international court or tribunal that could bring Russia’s top political and military leadership to account for crimes against Ukraine.
''The Special International Tribunal for the Punishment of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine has to be established to fill this jurisdictional loophole,'' he said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the proposal last Wednesday.
The bloc is expected to discuss the proposal at a European Council summit Dec. 15 - 16.
But International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Kareem Khan opposed the proposal, saying his court was capable of prosecuting war crimes.
The Hague-based court launched an investigation into war crimes in Ukraine in March but it does not have jurisdiction over Russia for crimes of aggression because Moscow is not party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that ''widespread death, destruction, displacement and suffering caused by this senseless war'' is ongoing in Ukraine. ''Over 14 million people remain forcibly displaced from their homes in Ukraine, including 6.5 million internally displaced, and over 7.8 million refugees recorded across Europe.”
He said more than 17,000 civilians have been killed since Feb. 24, when the war began, including 1,148 children killed or injured.
The World Health Organization reported at least 715 attacks on health care institutions and personnel in Ukraine, he said.
Griffiths also denounced attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including power stations and heating plants, that have left millions without access to heat, electricity and water.
''As a result of the attacks on civilian infrastructure, people are being deprived of health care and children of education. In Ukraine today, the ability of civilians to survive is under attack,'' he said.