Nigeria has expressed its reservations on Operating Paragraph Nine (OP9) text of the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly demanding Russia’s immediate withdrawal from the country in line with the UN Charter.
Paragraph nine of the resolution emphasises the need to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine through appropriate, fair and independent investigations and prosecutions at the national or international level, and ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.
The UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria joined 141 Member States to vote in favour of the resolution on “Principles of the Charter of the UN underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.’’
The world body adopted a resolution on Thursday at its resumed eleventh emergency special session to mark one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
By the terms of the 11-paragraph resolution, the Assembly reiterated its demand that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine and called for a cessation of hostilities”
However, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Muhammad- Bande, while delivering Nigeria statement, said the country believed in the need to hold all parties accountable for crimes.
“However, while Nigeria strongly believes in the need to hold all parties accountable for crimes committed, we register our reservation about OP9 of the text.
“The most urgent accountability is for us to use whatever resources – other than violence – at our disposal to guarantee that this war stops.
“Nigeria is not fully sure that OP9 is really helpful in stopping the war. It may harden positions and make getting a solution more difficult,’’ he said.
According to him, not only are the mechanisms for the investigations and prosecutions unclear in the text.
“It is also not difficult to see how the Assembly will be bogged down for years to come over which aggressions by some other Members should be treated in the same manner, or which ones should be prioritised.
“It is in light of these and other considerations that Nigeria will reserve on this paragraph.’’
Muhammad-Bande said Nigeria might well decide at an appropriate time to have a focused, honest, if difficult, discussion about accountability in all cases of unilateral action, occupation and settlement against sovereign States, with a determination to make these end and achieve genuine reconciliation.
The Nigeria envoy said that the solidarity that the Member States had seen in giving comfort to victims in Ukraine, Türkiye, Syria and Pakistan recently should give hope that this is both necessary and possible.
“Mr President, in line with the Charter of the United Nations, and especially concerning the inviolability of borders and the peaceful settlement of disputes, Nigeria supports this resolution.
“While reserving on OP9, it affirms what we all signed on to, and looking at the consequences of the war in Ukraine on Ukrainians and on the rest of the world and urges focused attention first to the cessation of the war,’’ he said.
According to the General Assembly President, Csaba Kőrösi, for a full year, the 193-member Assembly, the Secretary-General, and the international community “have been consistent and vocal in our calls to end this war, and to adhere to the UN Charter and international law”.
The resolution reaffirmed the Assembly’s commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters.
The Assembly also emphasised the need to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed in Ukraine through independent national or international investigations and prosecutions to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.
Meanwhile, the world body on Thursday rejected two amendments proposed by Belarus.
The first proposal would have altered several of the resolution’s provisions, and the second would have had the Assembly call on Member States to, among other things, refrain from sending weapons to the zone of conflict.
At the outset of the resumed session on Wednesday, the Assembly President said that in this “new chapter of history”, the world is facing “stark choices about who we are as an international community.
These choices will either set us on a path of solidarity and collective resolve to uphold the tenets of the UN Charter,” he said, “or a path of aggression, war, normalized violations of international law and collapsed global action.”
Days after the February 24, 2022 invasion, UN Security Council members had voted to allow the General Assembly to convene the eleventh emergency special session after Russia had vetoed a resolution that would have condemned the invasion of Ukraine.
In line with resolution 377A(V), adopted in 1950, the Assembly is able to take up international peace and security matters when the Council fails to do.
