The White House works to get Russian actions in Ukraine declared as war crimes

The White House works to get Russian actions in Ukraine declared as war crimes

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to ambassador David Scheffer, who was the first U.S. ambassador-at-large on war crime issues, about whether Russian can be held accountable for targeting Ukrainian civilians³.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Ukraine says Russia has repeatedly hit civilian² targets, including several hospitals. One haunting image that's been circulating on social media shows a pregnant woman wrapped in a blanket, bloody⁴ and bruised⁵, surrounded by rubble⁶ in Mariupol after an attack on a maternity⁷ ward⁸. That city is now running out of food and water, and more than 1,200 people have been killed. Ukraine is pointing to Russia's bombardment there as an example of Putin's disregard for civilian life. And President Zelenskyy is accusing the Kremlin of committing war crimes - claims that the Biden administration is also reviewing.

Here's Vice⁹ President Kamala Harris addressing a question about it in Poland yesterday.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Pregnant women going for health care being injured by, I don't know, a missile, a bomb in an unprovoked, unjustified war - absolutely there should be an investigation¹⁰.

FADEL: Can Moscow be held accountable? With us now is Ambassador David Scheffer, who was the first U.S. ambassador-at-large on war crime issues in the 1990s. He also led the U.S. delegation¹¹ to the U.N. talks establishing the International Criminal Court.

Good morning, Ambassador. Thank you for being on the program.

DAVID SCHEFFER: Good morning. Pleased to be with you.

FADEL: So first, if you could help us understand, what constitutes a war crime?

SCHEFFER: Well, a war crime occurs during an armed conflict. So it's not a peacetime crime. It involves armed conflict, which obviously is taking place in Ukraine. And it's a commission of acts that are in violation¹² of what we might call the most basic fundamental civilized¹³ rules of combat in the field. It is not illegal per se for combatants to wage war against each other, per se. But they have to do it in a certain way. And that has developed over, oh, mostly since the mid-19th century, a series of rules that have been memorialized in conventions, as well as in what we call customary international law so that combatants fight each other with, shall we say, a minimum level of civilized conduct, but that they also do so so as to protect civilian populations during combat to ensure the proper protection of prisoners of war and to ensure that particular types of weapons, such as chemical weapons, biological weapons, expanding bullets, are not used during combat. So there's a large body of law that is directly focused on war crimes.

FADEL: So based on that, what's your assessment¹⁴ of Russia's invasion of Ukraine so far? Do you see evidence of possible war crimes?

SCHEFFER: Well, that's undoubtable. Of course that is taking place. This is the most heavily covered combat situation we have seen in history on a day-by-day, hourly basis. So the evidence is coming in by video and by testimony¹⁵ and audio from Ukraine. But I would just say that we need to keep in mind that this all started because the crime of aggression¹⁶ has occurred. In other words, the Russian forces have invaded Ukraine. That itself is illegal.

So one can argue, although this is not how one does it usually in a courtroom - but certainly in the larger political environment, one can argue that having invaded Ukraine, everything the Russian military does in Ukraine that injures civilians, that violates these laws of war - everything that they do is actually illegal. In other words, every firing of artillery¹⁷, every firing of missiles, every movement of those convoys¹⁸ into civilian areas - all the destruction of civilian property itself is per se illegal because it's part of a war of aggression. Now, ultimately, we'll parse¹⁹ out individual evidence - incidents as to, you know, whether they're a war crime or a crime against humanity, et cetera.

FADEL: Right. The International Criminal Court is preparing to investigate possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine, as you mentioned. But even if the court does find evidence of that, what are the realistic consequences for a superpower like Russia who is not a member of the court?

SCHEFFER: Oh, I think they're extremely real. The ICC has jurisdiction²⁰ over the territory of Ukraine. So it's officially investigating with the support of, you know, 39 governments that referred it to Ukraine. And the United States is certainly supporting that investigation as well, even though it's not a party to the court. And when that investigation proceeds, I would predict that within two to three months, you will actually see indictments²¹ come down because the criminality is so obvious.

FADEL: Yeah.

SCHEFFER: They will come down against Putin and the generals. And once they do that, then the sanctions will not be lifted until they're surrendered.

FADEL: Ambassador David Scheffer - thank you for speaking with us.

SCHEFFER: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

5 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

6 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

7 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

8 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

12 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

13 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

14 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

15 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

16 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

17 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

18 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

19 parse   

v.从语法上分析；n.从语法上分析

参考例句：

• I simply couldn't parse what you just said.我完全无法对你刚说的话作语法分析。
• It causes the parser to parse an NP.它调用分析程序分析一个名词短语。

20 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

21 indictments   

n.（制度、社会等的）衰败迹象( indictment的名词复数 )；刑事起诉书；公诉书；控告

参考例句：

• A New York jury brought criminal indictments against the founder of the organization. 纽约的一个陪审团对这个组织的创始人提起了多项刑事诉讼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two indictments are self-evident and require no elaboration. 这两条意义自明，无须多说。 来自互联网