in Russian – http://crossroadorg.info/iagseb-28-2-2022/
The International Association of Genocide Scholars Executive Board made a Statement on February 28, 2022 on situation in Ukraine.
Statement on Situation in Ukraine
Source: web site of IAGS
The International Association of Genocide Scholars Executive Board (IAGSEB) strongly condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the justification for this attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that the invasion is justified under an allegation of Ukraine committing genocide against Russian-speaking citizens. Putin is misappropriating and misusing the term ‘genocide’ to justify invading a sovereign state. There is no evidence of genocide being committed by Ukraine against Russian-speaking citizens, and such claims have been exposed by independent observers as baseless and even fabricated. These claims are a further abuse of the principles of the Responsibility to Protect.
Putin’s justification is another example of the manipulation by government officials and political leaders of the term ‘genocide’ to serve political purposes. Misappropriation of the term serves to diminish the experience of genuine victims and survivors of genocide. Ukrainian populations have faced genocide in the 20th Century, in the form of the Holodomor (the Ukrainian famine-extermination in 1932-33 by Stalin) and the Holocaust (under Operation Barbarossa and including the Babyn Yar massacre), survivors of which live in Ukraine today.
IAGSEB notes that the invasion of a sovereign state is contrary to fundamental principles of international law such as state sovereignty and the prohibition of the crime of aggression. IAGSEB also notes that such a violation of international law may also lead to the commission of further atrocity crimes, such as war crimes, and thus calls upon Russia to respect international
humanitarian law.
IAGSEB declares its solidarity with the Ukrainian people, and urges Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and seek a peaceful solution in accordance with international law.
February, 28, 2022