The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) and the Centre for European Legal Studies (CELS) held an online Rapid Response Seminar on the War in Ukraine on 7 March 2022.

On the 24 February 2022 Russian troops launched a fully-fledged invasion of Ukraine after force had been used between the two countries in February 2014 with the annexing of Crimea by Russia. The UN General Assembly in its emergency session decided on 2 March 2022 that it:

‘[d]eplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine in violation of Article 2 (4) of the Charter; demands that the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and to refrain from any further unlawful threat or use of force against any Member State; also demands that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and [d]eplores the 21 February 2022 decision by the Russian Federation related to the status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter.’

In this Webinar we aimed to analyse the international and EU law aspects of the war in Ukraine. Experts on international and EU law, discussed different aspects of the use of force by Russia, and the European Union’s reaction. It will brought different legal perspectives together and provided expert opinions on this new and troubling development in international law in Europe.

Speakers:

- Professor Marc Weller: Use of Force – UN Charter – Security Council, also Peace Treaty and International Humanitarian Law

- Dr Dan Saxon: International Criminal Law – Crime of Aggression – International Criminal Court jurisdiction

- Francisco-José Quintana: Human Rights in War

- Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger: Protection of Livelihoods and the Environment during War in Ukraine

- Dr Emilija Leinarte: European Union Relations with Ukraine – EU-Ukraine Association Agreement

- Dr Markus Gehring: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, external dimension of migration and prospect for Ukraine’s EU membership

For more information see: https://www.cels.law.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.lcil.cam.ac.uk/