Role of forensic medicine in addressing the war crimes: Perspective from Russia-Ukraine conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The International Criminal Court has recently opened an investigation into the international crimes committed on Ukrainian territory. The ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war is a tragic opportunity for a necessary critical and scientific reading of the Rome Statute. In our work, we aim to critically analyse the contents of the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute, with particular attention to the definition and listing of war crimes. Our objective is to assess whether the content of the Rome Statute and the Geneva Convention is useful to provide a correct and complete orientation of the medico-legal work in the context of war. We believe, in fact, that the forensic pathologists, and forensic experts in general, are the only professional figures specialised in providing scientific evidence of crimes compatible with war crimes. Their timely intervention and the standardisation of their work – in association with a review of the deficient content found in the Rome Statute – is essential in order to allow the prosecution of international crimes, already potentially undermined by the slowdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic that is the backdrop to the current conflict.