The Netherlands is ready to set up a new United Nations-backed tribunal to investigate Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra said, according to Reuters.
The Netherlands will seek funding for the new tribunal together with other EU countries. Hoekstra added that the new special tribunal should not interfere with the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is also housed in the country.
The ICC's jurisdiction over the crime of aggression applies only to member states and states that have accepted its jurisdiction, such as Ukraine, but not Russia. Moscow has not agreed to the jurisdiction of this court.
"There is growing consensus that we need a special tribunal to try the act of aggression, the crime of starting a war. This can't be done by the ICC," Hoekstra said.
The Netherlands is also home to the International Court of Justice and special tribunals relating to Lebanon and Kosovo. For years it also housed the tribunal for war crimes committed in former Yugoslavia.
Earlier, Ukraine called on international partners to establish a special tribunal to investigate war crimes. This tribunal can bring to justice not only the perpetrators of atrocities - the military, but also the Russian leadership.