New Zealand has joined Australia and the Netherlands in seeking accountability from Russia over the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 nearly eight years ago.
The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when it was hit over rebel-held eastern Ukraine by what international investigators and prosecutors say was a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 on board.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Russia was responsible under international law and that taking the matter to the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would be a step forward in the fight for victims.
The Dutch government said the UN Security Council had also been informed of the step.
"The death of 298 civilians, including 196 Dutch, cannot and should not remain without consequences. The current events in Ukraine underscore the vital importance of this," Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in a statement.
Now, New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta says Aotearoa joins them in taking the matter to the UN.
"Aotearoa New Zealand stands with Australia and the Netherlands in seeking accountability at the ICAO for the downing of flight MH17. We urge Russia to cooperate," she says.
"We must explore all avenues to achieve truth and justice for the 298 victims."
The rare procedure comes under an article of ICAO's Chicago Convention designed to protect civilian aircraft from weapons fire. It was added in 1984 following the shooting down of a South Korean airliner by Soviet fighters the previous year.
Australia said it was seeking full reparations from Russia for the injury caused, and the suspension of Russia's voting power in ICAO, which sets standards for civilian air travel.
While it has no regulatory power, Montreal-based ICAO sits at the centre of a global aviation safety system that operates across political barriers.
Morrison said Russia's "unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine" that began last month highlighted the need to hold Russia accountable for what he described as a "blatant violation of international law".
Australia and the Netherlands said they would rely on evidence that MH17 was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile system transported from Russia under the control of Russian-backed separatists and returned to Russia after the downing.
Moscow, which describes its actions in Ukraine as a "special operation," has continually denied involvement in MH17 and has promoted a range of alternative theories, which international investigators have rejected as unsupported by evidence.
Reuters / Newshub.
