The Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka, chaired the meeting “Ensuring accountability for atrocities committed in Ukraine” co-organized by Albania and France and co-sponsored by 34 countries of the UN.

Minister Xhaçka emphasized that Russia should be held accountable for the crimes committed during the war against Ukraine.

According to her, the world still does not have a better, yet more efficient way to ensure that such crimes do not happen again, other than holding those accountable for their actions.

” A supposed guardian of the system, has embarked on a war of choice against a neighbor, committing unimaginable crimes in the process, why? Not because it was attacked, not because it was threatened, but because it chose to.,” said Chief Diplomat Xhaçka.

In her speech the Minister mentioned some historical evidences on what has once happened in the Western Balkans.

“I come from the Western Balkans. A region that until February 24th 2022 had the distinction of having been the theatre of the last war in Europe. The scenes of bloodshed and of destruction we see coming from Ukraine hit home very differently for someone for whom war and war crimes are not things you read about in history books, but memories from but a few decades ago”, she paralleled.

Xhaçka brought to attention the events of 1999, when Albania sheltered hundreds of families who had fled the brutal war and the ethnic cleansing campaign in Kosovo.

“The single most vivid memory I have from that time is of the sense of powerlessness to stop what was happening. And the conviction, the almost violent conviction we all felt, that whoever was committing those horrible crimes had to pay”, she mentioned.

The Albanian minister has demanded that Russia be held accountable.

“Accountability is about protecting the foundations of our system, the principles of the UN Charter, our common values and our shared responsibility. “We could not prevent this conflict, but we must not fail to hold those responsible accountable”, concluded Minister Xhaçka her speech.

This meeting was one of the most important this year in the Security Council and the fact that Albania chaired it, makes it even more special for official Tirana.

In the meeting reports were presented from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in charge of the investigation in Ukraine, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan and the Chief Prosecutor of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova, according to whom, over 8 thousand cases of crimes committed by the Russian army during its war against Ukraine have been documented.

Participating in the meeting were Amal Clooney, co-chair of the Clooney Foundation for Justice and Ida Sawyer, director of Human Rights Watch.
Prosecutor Khan, in his speech thanked Albania for co-directing this format while Clooney said that Ukraine had become a “slaughterhouse in the heart of Europe.”
According to her, support for Ukraine means supporting the International Criminal Court. This is because “in Ukraine there is inevitable evidence that genocide is taking place.”