World Court to rule next week on Ukraine case against Russia on MH17, discrimination

THE HAGUE: Judges at the World Court will hand down a judgment on Wednesday in a case in which Ukraine accused Russia of violating an anti-terrorism treaty by funding pro-Russian forces, including militias who shot down a passenger jet, and discrimination.

In the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the U.N.'s top court, which was launched in 2017 and predates the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv says Russia equipped and funded pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, including militias involved in shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, killing all 298 passengers and crew, in July 2014.

Ukraine also says Russia breached a U.N. anti-discrimination treaty by trying to erase the culture of ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia denies systematic human rights abuses in Ukrainian territory that it occupies. It also says it has met its obligations under the U.N. treaty against financing terrorism.

Judgments of the ICJ, also known as the World Court, are final and without appeal but the court has no way to enforce its rulings.

There is a separate case of Ukraine versus Russia at the ICJ which deals with alleged violations by Moscow of the 1948 Genocide Convention. That case is waiting on a decision on the challenges to the court's jurisdiction by Russia before it can move forward.