“There are official procedures for defining genocide, but I think it is absolutely right for more people to speak and use the word genocide to refer to what Russia is doing, what Vladimir Putin has done,” Trinto told a news conference. Laval. Que. Trinto noted Russian military attacks on civilians, including the targeting of health care facilities and train stations, as well as sexual violence in the conflict. He also said that Russia was attacking “Ukrainian identity and culture”. CLOCKS Prime Minister Justin Trinto calls the war in Ukraine a genocide
Prime Minister Justin Trinto calls the war in Ukraine a genocide
For the first time, Trinto explicitly described the war in Ukraine as genocide as growing evidence is being gathered during the ongoing Russian invasion. 1:08
“All of these are war crimes for which Putin is responsible, all of these are crimes against humanity,” he said.
Trinto said the Canadian government is taking action in response, including by requesting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged Russian war crimes and by deploying RCMP investigators to the ICC.
Trinto answered a question about the use of the word by US President Joe Biden to describe Russia’s activities in Ukraine.
“Your family budget, your ability to fill your tank, none of this should depend on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,” Biden told a news conference in Iowa on Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to a POET bioprocessing plant in Menlo, Iowa, on Tuesday. Biden first used the word “genocide” to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine. (Al Drago / Reuters)
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Biden said he used the word because: “It is becoming increasingly clear that Putin is simply trying to eliminate the idea that he might even be Ukrainian.”
Biden said there was growing evidence that Russia’s actions constituted genocide, but noted that the use of the word was not a legal statement.
“We will let lawyers decide internationally whether they qualify or not,” he said.
What is characterized as genocide?
The United Nations definition of genocide under the Genocide Convention includes both physical and mental elements.
The first includes: “Killing members of the group, causing serious physical or mental harm to members of the group, deliberate provocation to the group of living conditions that are estimated to result in physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures to prevent births within group “and,” Violent transfer of group children to another group. “
A man leaves the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York on March 1. International law requires that intent to commit genocide be proven in any UN declaration of genocide. (Carlo Allegri / Reuters)
But the mental element states that genocide must also have a clear intention.
“Intention is the most difficult element to determine,” says a UN article on genocide.
“In order to constitute genocide, there must be a proven intention on the part of the perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction is not enough, nor is the intention simply to dismantle a group.”
The law also requires that victims be deliberately targeted, the article said.
