(Ottawa) The Russian regime has bombed airport infrastructure in Ukraine, seized airliners belonging to foreign lessors and pulverized the largest cargo plane in the world, the Antonov AN-225, which had been used to transport tons of protective equipment against COVID-19.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
For these and other reasons, the members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) who are meeting for a summit in Montreal these days must refuse Moscow the new mandate it is seeking from the Council of the UN agency, pleads the Ukrainian government.
“You cannot have as a member of the decision-making body of the ICAO a nation that develops policies that contravene the international convention”, summarizes in an interview Danylo Davydov, head of the international cooperation division within the Administration. National Aviation of Ukraine.
In his suitcases, he brought a scale model of the Antonov AN-225, this mastodon which had landed at Mirabel airport with personal protective equipment in its bowels, in May 2020.
The Kremlin targeted him from the first days of the invasion; it was destroyed by Russian army fire at the end of February 2022.
“It is a major element of our strategy. It was a unique aircraft that served several countries during the pandemic. Future generations must know what happened to this plane, and that actions have consequences, ”notes the official who landed in Kyiv on the night of Monday to Tuesday.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Ottawa, Yulia Kovaliv, will address summit participants on Thursday in hopes of persuading as many of the 193 member countries who will elect the 36 Council members as of 1er next October that Russia has no place at the table.
Ottawa will not vote for Moscow
She will not have to move heaven and earth to convince the Trudeau government.
“Canada will not support Russia,” the office of Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in an email about the vote, which, according to the rules, is secret.
And “like all UN meetings, Canada will take every opportunity to counter the Russian regime’s attempts to justify its invasion” of Ukraine, “including its violation of the Chicago Convention on Aviation.” , we added.
The opposition parties are all in the same boat.
Because “any country that breaks the rules as Russia did does not deserve to sit on an international governance body,” said conservative Michael Chong. Consequently, the government should “do everything possible to block this possible renewal of the Russian mandate,” added Bloc member Stéphane Bergeron.
On the ICAO side, we rely on the will of the Member States.
The communications administrator, William Raillant-Clark, insisted on emphasizing the “neutrality” that the staff of the Secretariat must demonstrate. He nevertheless indicated that the Council had “heard certain complaints relating to the Russian Federation” in recent months.
Russian crimes
The Council’s first condemnation came on February 25, the day after the invasion, and it concerns the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and airspace.
In the second case, on June 28, the decision-making body of the ICAO raised concerns about the double registration of aircraft – Moscow is accused of “stealing” airliners leased abroad for re-register them in Russia.
These are violations of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention.
“There is an obvious political component to our approach, but above all there is the legal aspect: Russia has violated fundamental articles of the Convention”, insists Danylo Davydov at the other end of the Zoom.
The first article of the document?
“The Contracting States recognize that each State has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory. »
The Ukrainian representative refuses to open his game too much and to quantify the number of countries which support the attempt to block Kyiv. At most, he confides his feeling “that the chances are very good” that Russia will not obtain a second mandate.
More than 2,500 delegates from Member States and representatives of international organizations are in Montreal for the ICAO meeting.
Canada has a number of issues on its radar, including reviving the air sector, the aftermath of Iran’s downing of flight PS752 and reducing the industry’s climate footprint.
Carbon neutrality for aviation: “We are counting on the ICAO”
A lack of agreement for an aviation that no longer contributes to climate change in 2050, during the general assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), would be a “failure”, warned the world’s leading airline organization. Any lack of agreement at the end of the 15 days of debate would mean that “this general assembly will be perceived as a failure”, estimated Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) during a videoconference. . This organization, which brings together 290 companies representing 83% of global traffic, has itself committed to achieving “net zero emissions” of CO2 in 2050, to respect the Paris agreement supposed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. “We are counting on ICAO to ensure that governments and regulators around the world also align and agree on their long-term goal of net zero emissions by 2050,” Walsh added. While air transport is singled out for its role in the climate crisis, a lack of consensus among the 193 States of the ICAO would be a “huge disappointment”, according to him.
France Media Agency