MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - The Russian Duma on Thursday passed a bill revoking a statement made upon ratification of the additional protocol to the Geneva conventions of August 12, 1949, concerning the protection of victims of international armed conflicts.
The bill was submitted to the Duma by the Russian president. It posits that the commission set up under the conventions to investigate humanitarian law violations in armed conflicts is not doing its job and thus its competence should be deemed irrelevant.
The bill revokes the statement made by the former Soviet Union, when it ratified the Additional Protocol of June 8, 1977, to the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949, regarding protection of victims of international armed conflicts.
The International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission was established on the basis of Article 90 of Protocol 1 to investigate suspected major violations of humanitarian law during international armed conflicts.
"However, the commission has practically been failing to fulfill its duties since 1991," an explanatory note to the bill said. It was also noted that Russia does not have a representative in the commission but nevertheless continues to make annual contributions to its budget.
Taking this into account, further recognition of the commission seems not to be expedient, the document said.
"Moreover, the risk of political abuse of the commission's powers by dishonest states grows significantly under current international circumstances," it said.
Considering these aspects, the federal bill repeals the statement of recognition of the commission and declares null and void in the territory of Russia Clause 1 of USSR Supreme Council Resolution No. 330-1 dated August 4, 1989, which ratified the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949, regarding the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I), and the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949, concerning the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts (Protocol II) to the extent of the statement made by the Soviet Union during ratification of Protocol I.
Given that the statement of recognition was made in the form of a resolution of the USSR Supreme Council, it must be repealed by a federal law, the document said.
"The decision is absolutely balanced and substantiated. Of key importance here is the actual inaction of the commission, as is - and this is no less important - the danger of its politicization with the simultaneous hypothetical possibility of its use for international escalation," State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky said.