“Respect International law !”- Protestors against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Mar 05, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – A number of Guyanese have added their voices to the protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This was evident yesterday as citizens once again stood in solidarity in front of the Russian Embassy in Pere Street, Kitty, Georgetown.
The citizens were adamant that Russia must respect International law on human rights as they called for an end of the war, which has so far claimed the lives of scores of innocent people in Ukraine.
The protest was supported by Article 13 members, Christopher Ram and Yog Mahadeo, as well as Kaieteur News publisher, Glenn Lall. Other prominent members of society such as Mr. Kit Nacimento and Opposition Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan were present in support of the call for peace.
Mr. Mahadeo in an interview with the media spoke to the importance of Russia adhering to the international law.
He said, “I have here (on my placard) respect International law. In our territorial dispute with Venezuela…this is all we can rely on; International law and going to the international courts…we also have to also call on the international leaders to respect international law.”
Mahadeo added that Guyana has recently been placed in the global spot light and it must therefore utilize the opportunity to support human rights. “We are here to ask (President Vladimir) Putin let us seek peace and peaceful resolutions to whatever conflicts they have,” the activist said.
He also spoke of the importance of the high level officials “showing how big they are” by ironing out their concerns over the table, rather than through nuclear weapons and bombs. In addition, he lauded the government and opposition for speaking out against the Russian invasion but went further to call on the politicians to join the protest instead of voicing their concerns on paper.
His colleague, Christopher Ram also spoke against the approach of Russia. Ram said, “We think the government has done something, but it needs to take a much formal line with the Russians and ensure that at the level of CARICOM we send this message that this type of bullying has no place in the 22nd year of the 21st century.”
The member of the civil society group reasoned further that Ukraine has been a sovereign State for centuries while noting that arguments by Putin would be non-factual. He however pointed out that under the rules of the United Nations, all disputes must be settled by peaceful means which is most necessary at this point. “Putin needs to stop killing children, stop killing women, stop destroying a country and sit down and talk if he has concerns; let those concerns be aired but they must be rational, they must be reasonable and they must respect peoples’ rights to self-determination”.
KN Publisher Glenn Lall also added his voice to the protest. He told reporters he is in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, as he is of the firm belief that the actions of the Russian President are not far from that of a bully.
Lall also stressed the importance of Guyanese condemning the actions of Russia, as the country is also in a similar situation where Venezuela has been claiming part of its territory, Essequibo. He said, “Because of this, I am here supporting the Ukrainian people because at the end of the day anything can go wrong here and we would need support of the world.”
The newspaper publisher also called on President Putin to leave Ukraine and pay the price for the deaths and destruction he caused to the country and its people.
Russian Embassy invites protestors to meeting
During yesterday’s protest, two officials attached to the Embassy greeted the protestors and invited them to a meeting, during which they tried to convince the citizens that Russia was merely engaged in a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Mr. Chris Ram, Glenn Lall and Yog Mahadeo were invited into the Russian Embassy for the meeting.
Mr. Yog Mahadeo after exiting the Embassy’s compound related, “We stood our ground and we said, ‘look, there must be peace and peaceful resolution, it is unacceptable.’ Their claim was that the rest of the world does not know of the Nazi buildup in Ukraine and a number of issues like that. They basically said that it was the Nazi post 2014 code that has been running things so we asked them ‘where are you going to stop?’…they said they were just looking for the provocateurs to prosecute them.”
The official added that the Guyanese reminded the Russian nationals that the country is part of the United Nations and is therefore bound to international laws.
Russia/Ukraine War
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Karim Khan on Wednesday said he would immediately open an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine, following requests to do so by an unprecedented number of the court’s member states.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has yet to overthrow the government in Kyiv but thousands of people are believed to have been killed or injured, according to officials in both countries and the United Nations. “Active investigations formally commence in Ukraine upon receipt of referrals by 39 state parties,” prosecutor Karim Khan tweeted.
The U.S., North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and several other nations have imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Russia as punishment for invading Ukraine, Yahoo News reported.

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