The Week in Multilateralism
Friday, August 23, 2024
Another Layer to the BRICS?
In 2009, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China met to inaugurate a new geopolitical bloc. South Africa joined the next year, turning BRIC into BRICS. Then, last year, the group expanded even more dramatically, adding Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. (There have been reports that Saudi Arabia also joined, but the Saudi government said earlier this year that it is still weighing the membership invitation. Argentina planned to join, but the country’s new president, Javier Milei, changed course.)
How much BRICS is doing much beyond expanding its membership roster and holding annual summits is a matter of debate. Reforming the international financial system has been a rhetorical priority, but the group’s impact in that area has been mixed. In 2016, the BRICS-created New Development Bank became operational, but its membership and lending goals remain modest.
Still, there are signs that more countries want to join the club. Azerbaijan and Malaysia, in particular, are apparently interested in membership. In the case of Azerbaijan, the move appears to be part of a warming trend in relations with Moscow:
The Azerbaijan announcement comes after [Russian president Vladimir] Putin landed in the capital, Baku, on Sunday for bilateral talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. On Monday Aliyev hailed the fact that “our economic and trade relations are progressing successfully” despite global challenges.
For Malaysia, the bid to join may center on strengthening political and economic ties with India.
During its first prime minister-led delegation’s visit to India since 2018, Malaysia hopes to bolster ties with one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. India is the largest buyer of Malaysian palm oil and a key exporter of rice to the Southeast Asian nation.
The application to join Brics, which was submitted to the current chairman Russia, is aimed at cushioning a potential impact on Malaysia from the escalating US-China trade and tech war, analysts say.
In both cases, it appears that countries are using multilateral membership choices at least in part to curry favor with particular major powers. For these candidates, what BRICS actually does may be less important than the signal they send by seeking membership.
Ukraine (Finally) Moves to Join the International Criminal Court
For the past several years, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has devoted significant resources to investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The court’s investigation—one of its largest and most complex—has produced charges against Russian president Vladimir Putin and several other high-ranking Russian civilian and military officials. By all accounts, officials in Kyiv have cooperated with the ICC and welcomed its role. But all this has transpired without Ukraine actually being a member of the court.1
That odd situation appears about to change. Ukraine’s parliament this week ratified the Rome Statute, the agreement creating the ICC. The Associated Press reported:
Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, voted Wednesday to ratify the founding treaty of the ICC, which currently has 124 member states.
“We are trying to take real steps on all of the fronts of international justice to bring the Russian Federation to justice,” said Deputy Justice Minister Iryna Mudra.
“The ratification of the Rome Statute will increase the chances of victims receiving compensation for Russian war crimes,” she added.
To the frustration of some observers, however, Ukraine may not be willing to give ICC investigators free rein. The bill to ratify invokes Article 124 of the Rome Statute, a provision allowing new member states to exclude war crimes from the court’s jurisdiction for a period of seven years. The legal scholar Tom Dannenbaum views the caveat as a major unforced error:
For Ukraine to invoke article 124 would not only be an anachronistic regression from its otherwise commendable engagement with international law, it would also contradict its own national interest. The move is unlikely to achieve the dubious objective of shielding Ukrainians from ICC war crimes jurisdiction, and any success it might have in that endeavor would likely come at the far greater cost of giving Russian officials a parallel free pass to commit war crimes in Ukraine without ICC scrutiny—a pass that they currently do not have.
Ukraine’s reasoning is not totally clear, but the invocation of Article 124 could be a tacit—and not all that surprising—acknowledgement that 1) Ukrainian forces have committed certain crimes during the conflict and 2) that handling those cases domestically (as the Rome Statute system requires) may be too difficult politically.
The Curious Case of Paul Watson
For the past several weeks, the leader of the activist oceans organization Sea Shepherd has been grounded in Greenland. Authorities there detained him on a Japanese arrest warrant, which had been duly circulated by Interpol. Le Monde provided an update this week on the case:
The 73-year-old activist was arrested in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish territory, in July based on a 2012 Interpol arrest warrant issued by Japan, which accuses him of causing damage to one of its whaling ships in 2010 in the Antarctic and causing injury…
Greenland police must first decide whether there is a basis for extradition, after which the Danish justice ministry will decide whether or not to proceed with an extradition. No date has been announced for those decisions.
Watson’s organization has long claimed to be defending international law by confronting vessels it believes are engaged in illegal whaling, fishing, and drilling. The problem is that its interpretations of international law can be idiosyncratic. And even when the maritime activity that the organization confronts is manifestly illegal, Sea Shepherd’s right to take enforcement action is usually far less clear.
Briefly Noted:
The Taliban is reportedly not willing to parley with the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur for the country.
The ICC prosecutor responded to the dozens of states, organizations, and individuals that submitted comments on the charges it has brought related to the Gaza conflict.
The Czech president insisted that Ukraine can join NATO even if Russia is still occupying chunks of its territory.
The Organization of American States called on the Venezuelan government to release full information on last month’s disputed election.
The UN Security Council unanimously endorsed the continuation of an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
The International Court of Justice announced a date for hearings on an advisory case considering state obligations to address climate change.
The World Trade Organization has welcomed its 165th member, the island nation of Comoros.
Hungary’s government continues to tussle with European Union institutions over immigration policy.
Stamped Out: EU passport stamps are set to disappear as an automated entry/exit system comes into effect.
To clear the way for the ICC investigation, Ukraine used a provision of the Rome Statute that allows non-member states to give the court jurisdiction over their territory.