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Transcript/ScriptFOR USAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV – Ukraine Genocide Definition – Bakalets
HEADLINE: Genocide or Not? Legal Experts on Defining What’s Happening in Ukraine
TEASER:
PUBLISHED AT: 04/27/2022 at 10am
BYLINE: Lesia Bakalets
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
SCRIPT EDITORS: KE(1st); BR
VIDEOGRAPHER:
VIDEO SOURCE (S):
PLATFORMS: TV only
TRT: 2:47
VID APPROVED BY: KE
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: Interviews are Zoom, all cleared for use))
((INTRO:))
[[U.S. President Joe Biden has called Russian’s actions in Ukraine a genocide and legal experts say there is a basis to make the case. Lesia Bakalets explains in this report narrated by Anna Rice.]]
((NARRATION))
President Biden has made it clear where he stands on the issue of Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
((President Joe Biden))
“Yes, I called it genocide, because it becomes clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe off the mere idea of being Ukrainian.”
((NARRATION))
But French President Emmanuel Macron is not using this term.
((Emmauel Marcon, President of France)) ((IN FRENCH))
“The word ‘genocide’ has a very particular sense and it’s up to lawyers, not politicians, to define it.”
((NARRATION))
The term ‘genocide’ was coined
((Mandatory courtesy: Arthur Leipzig/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution))
at the end of World War Two by a Polish lawyer
((End courtesy))
((Mandatory courtesy: United Nations))
of Jewish descent, Raphael Lemkin. It has
((End courtesy))
a specific definition, say scholars.
((Ernesto Verdeja, University of Notre Dame)) ((Courtesy: Zoom))
“The definition of genocide under international law is the intentional destruction of a group in whole or in part. And if that group is targeted according to its national identity, its ethnic identity, its racial or religious identity.”
((NARRATION))
To prove genocide means to prove that war crimes were committed with malicious intent. International law experts are debating whether Russian actions qualify as genocide. Comments by President Vladimir Putin could contribute to the case against Russia, say these experts.
((Daniel Rothenberg, Arizona State University)) ((Courtesy: Zoom))
“He's created a narrative justifying Russian aggression, which involves some combination of a failure, a refusal to acknowledge that there are such people as Ukrainians that have – as a group – a kind of fundamental legitimacy and a right to self-determination.”
((NARRATION))
While neither Russia nor Ukraine are a party to the International Criminal Court, experts say the court can still investigate Russia’s crimes. But they add it would be better to create a separate tribunal for that purpose.
((Olesya Stasiuk, National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide)) ((IN UKRAINIAN)) ((Mandatory: Zoom))
“An international tribunal is needed so that the whole world could unite and condemn Russia for the crimes it has committed and continues to commit.”
((NARRATION))
Yet it’s unlikely Putin will be brought to trial even if a tribunal establishes that Russia’s actions in Ukraine constitute genocide, say experts. More likely is that lower ranking offenders might be captured and put on trial.
((Ernesto Verdeja, University of Notre Dame)) ((Courtesy: Zoom))
“None of these courts have a police force at their disposal. They have no way to actually capture someone. So, the person has to be apprehended and then handed over to the court by some other actor.”
((NARRATION))
Yet these difficulties have not stopped the collection of evidence of genocide against Ukrainians. By opening an investigation early, experts say, the evidence gets documented soon after the crimes are committed. They can also be made public as early as possible.
((For Lesia Bakalets in Washington, Anna Rice, VOA News))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateApril 27, 2022 10:40 EDT
BylineLesia Bakalets
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
