Canada to help investigate sexual violence against women in Ukraine as war crimes: Joly
Joly said Canada has provided 10 RCMP officers to help gather evidence of possible war crimes in Ukraine that could be used in a case before the International Criminal Court
Article content
OTTAWA – Foreign Minister Melanie Joly says Canada will help investigate sexual violence by Russian troops against women and girls in Ukraine.
Article content
Joly spoke in Ottawa after talks with Ann Linde, Sweden’s foreign minister, and said that RCMP officers helping to investigate war crimes in Ukraine will help gather evidence of rape and sexual violence from the Russian military.
Joly said Canada has provided 10 RCMP officers to help gather evidence of possible war crimes in Ukraine that could be used in a case before the International Criminal Court.
She said she believed there was “strong evidence of genocide” against the Ukrainian people of Russia.
MEPs in Canada have already voted symbolically to label Russia’s targeting civilians in Ukraine as genocide.
Both foreign ministers expressed concern that sexual violence against women was being used by Russia as a weapon of war in Ukraine, and said such crimes must be highlighted.
Article content
They said specialist support was needed for Ukrainian women and girls fleeing to neighboring countries who may have been raped and beaten by invading troops.
-
Canada would support Sweden in the NATO membership application, says Joly
-
Russia must be punished for sex crimes against Ukrainians, the ambassador to Canada said
Linde said that Sweden has been at the forefront when it comes to investigating war crimes against civilians, including sexual violence against women.
It has already sent “experts in investigating sexual and gender-based crime” to assist the International Criminal Court in its investigation into war crimes. They interview refugees, “mainly women and girls and children,” as witnesses.
After talks with his Swedish counterpart, Joly reiterated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s support for Sweden joining NATO.
Article content
Linde said that Sweden wanted “security guarantees” from other NATO countries if they applied for membership in the military alliance, in case there were reprisals from Russia because they chose to join. Russia is already involved in disinformation campaigns, including incorrectly labeling prominent people in Sweden as Nazis, she said.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s nominated ambassador to Canada said Russia must be held accountable for its troops committing sex crimes, including against children.
Yulia Kovaliv told lawmakers at a lower house committee that Russia uses sexual violence as a weapon of war. She said Ukraine was compiling “horrific documented evidence” of war crimes, including sexual offenses by Russian soldiers.
“The horrible thing is that children are victims of these sexual crimes, which are committed (in front of) their parents’ eyes,” said Kovaliv. “Sexual offenses are part of the Russian weapon (against) Ukraine.”