Julie Bishop calls for Russia’s support over MH17 investigation
UNLESS Russia supports the MH17 investigation, more planes will fall out of the sky and more people will die, says Ukraine’s foreign minister.
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MORE civilian planes could be shot out of the sky if the perpetrators of the MH17 atrocity go unpunished, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister says.
Australia and Ukraine — along with the Netherlands, Belgium and Malaysia — are the joint investigative team pushing for those who brought down the Malaysian Airlines flight to be brought to justice through a United Nations tribunal.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin, said this morning that if Russia vetoed the tribunal — as it is likely to do — it would give the “most terrible message” that the international community is “impotent” when it comes to punishing such acts.
Almost 300 people, including 39 Australians, died when “high-energy” missiles hit the plane as it travelled over Ukraine last year.
Mr Klimkin said it was “the first case in human history when a civilian aeroplane has been shot down by sophisticated air missile system” and that the technology could be used by other attackers.
It is widely believed that Russian-backed rebels shot down MH17. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been in New York shoring up support for an international criminal tribunal with a prosecutor appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to mete out justice to whomever the investigation finds is responsible.
The resolution has majority support but Russia has the power to veto it.
It is understood that while the supportive nations seem optimistic Russia will just abstain rather than veto, privately they are not so sure.
The UN Security Council will vote on the resolution early Thursday morning, Australian time.
Mr Klimkin says if Russia use their permanent member status to block the move, it “would get across the message that anyone who could be behind any kind of similar tragedy would go unpunished”.
“And it would give the most terrible message, not just for Ukraine, for Australia, for the Netherlands, but for the international community because the international community will (seem) impotent to deliver in such cases,” he said.
Asked whether that would increase the risk of similar attacks, he said “absolutely”.
“We need to get across a very clear sign that we are ready to counter such acts, both politically and legally,” he said.
“The resolution that will be voted on tomorrow ... is exactly the way to prevent such cases, both politically and legally.”
Having the tribunal was not a political attack against Russia, he insisted, but about “moral duty”.
About 11 of the 15 UNSC nations are expected to support the resolution, while others may abstain, and Russia will almost certainly veto it.
China and Venezuela, who are closely aligned with Russia, are among those likely to abstain.
Australia is working with a joint team in New York to convince the United Nations Security Council to force those who shot down the plane — generally believed to be Russian-backed rebels — to face prosecution and punishment.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has been very critical of the tribunal, and China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi in what is understood to have been a sympathetic meeting but one unlikely to yield a ‘yes’ vote.
This morning, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop held last-ditch talks with Mr Churkin to convince him not to use Russia’s power to veto the establishment of the international criminal tribunal.
However, despite the genial nature of the talks, he seems sure to stick to his position that the tribunal would be “dangerous”.
While pleading with Russia, Ms Bishop said she believed the support was there for a tribunal.
“I believe now is an appropriate time to set up a tribunal,” Ms Bishop told Sunrise.
“We owe it to the families who are still grieving.”
Earlier this month, Russia used its veto power as a permanent member of the council to block a separate resolution to call the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8000 Muslim men and boys a “genocide”. Mr Churkin is understood to have used his veto power ten times.
Ms Bishop said after the meeting that a veto would undermine the intention of Resolution 2166 — which Russia voted in favour of — that those who downed the plane over Ukraine be held to account.
“A security council-backed tribunal should have the highest level of independence, integrity and impartiality. It would also maximise the chances of states cooperating with the tribunal,” she said.
“I told Mr Churkin to save his vetoed for something that is in Russia’s national interest, and this is not.”
She said the tribunal would form the third “leg” of Resolution 2166.
“First, recover the bodies. Second, an investigation. Third, hold those responsible to account,” she said.
The investigation will be finished by the end of the year and Australia (along with The Netherlands, Ukraine, Belgium, and Malaysia) wants the findings to be handed to a tribunal appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
For the resolution to pass it needs the votes of at least nine out of the 15 Security Council members, which Ms Bishop and other foreign representatives have secured. However, any of the five permanent members can unilaterally stop a resolution.
Ms Bishop says if this resolution fails she will keep fighting to get justice for the victims’ families, but that the tribunal would be the “gold standard”.
Ms Bishop said she had held discussions with Russia’s ambassador to the United Nation’s yesterday and asked him to seek from Moscow an assurance the country would not use its veto power to overturn the vote.
She said the majority of countries were in favour of establishing an international criminal tribunal but if any one of the five permanent security council members disagreed they could use their veto power to dismiss it.
“We had a very frank discussion,” Ms Bishop told Nine of her discussion with the ambassador.
“I put forward our arguments as to why the families of those on board MH17 deserve justice. “We owed them nothing less than a Tribunal to consider criminal investigations into the downing of MH17.
“I countered every argument that he put forward as to why a Tribunal should not be set up and should not be backed by the Security Council.
“I asked him to seek instructions from Moscow to not use the veto because we have, I believe, a majority of support. Seventeen nations, including a number on the Security Council, have agreed to co-sponsor this resolution, so there is significant support for it.”
It is believed Russian-backed separatists shot down the airliner over Eastern Ukraine a year ago.
Shocking footage obtained by News Corp Australia on the first anniversary of the disaster showed rebels raiding the crash site and rummaging through the bags of the deceased.
Two weeks ago Prime Minister Tony Abbott led a moving tribute in Parliament House to honour the victims of the tragedy.
More than 500 family, friends, defence and police personnel gathered in the Great Hall for a moving service where there was barely a dry eye in the room.
Even the Prime Minister’s voice cracked at one point as he spoke of the victims.
A permanent memorial to the 40 people who died in the tragedy that called Australia home was also unveiled in the gardens of parliament house.
A plaque with the names of the dead was unveiled atop of soil brought directly from the Ukrainian town of Rozsypne.
Originally published as Julie Bishop calls for Russia’s support over MH17 investigation