The Diplomat
The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has held a meeting in New York with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, to whom he again requested that the death of the Spanish aid worker Emma Igual in Ukraine during a Russian attack be investigated as a war crime.
Albares held his meeting with Khan last Wednesday in New York, in the margins of the Ministerial Week and the 78th UN General Assembly. “I have reiterated to him our request to investigate the death in Ukraine of the Spanish aid worker Emma Igual as a possible war crime,” the minister declared through the social network X, formerly Twitter.
Therefore, this meeting allowed Albares to transfer in person to the ICC prosecutor the request he himself had made by letter last week, in which, on behalf of the Spanish government, he urged him to investigate as a “war crime” the death of the Spanish aid worker Emma Igual, which took place last September 9 during an attack against the vehicle in which she was traveling in eastern Ukraine.
The acting minister made the same request last week to his Ukrainian counterpart, Dimitro Kuleba. In declarations to the press, Albares assured last September 12 in Strasbourg that, “even indirectly”, the death of the Spanish aid worker “is the responsibility of the one who launched the war of aggression against Ukraine”, in an implicit reference to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Earlier yesterday, Albares also participated in the Ministerial meeting of Support for the International Criminal Court, held at the Ford Foundation headquarters in New York. “Spain supports the work of the International Criminal Court in its fight against impunity and for justice for the victims,” the minister stated through the same social network.
Intense agenda in New York
Albares has been in New York since last Wednesday to participate in the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. As reported by the Foreign Ministry in a press release, one of the objectives of the trip was, precisely, “to give new impetus to the investigation of the case that cost the life of the Spanish aid worker in Ukraine Emma Igual, for which he requested that it be investigated as a ‘war crime'”.
The Russian aggression was also very present in the coordination meeting of the aggression tribunal promoted by the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, which was followed by the aforementioned ministerial meeting in support of the International Criminal Court and another meeting on ‘accountability in Ukraine, in which mechanisms were explored to ensure that the Russian authorities pay for the aggression and compensate its victims.
Albares participated yesterday in the ministerial meeting of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and in the traditional breakfast of Ibero-American Foreign Ministers, which served to welcome Ecuador, in its first act as Pro Tempore Secretariat, and to hear the balance of the head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), Andrés Allamand, which included a reference to the EU-CELAC Summit that was organized last July in Brussels under the Spanish Presidency of the EU. During the breakfast, according to the minister, “the climate emergency, the digital transition, financing and food security” were addressed.
Yesterday concluded with a reception for Spanish citizens and a meeting with Spanish officials working in the United Nations system, whose number has increased by 7.7% in the last year to 2,724, all at the residence of the Spanish ambassador to the US in New York.
On Wednesday, the Minister participated in the Forum on Latin America, the US and Spain in the global economy, in which he stated that, “in a complex geopolitical context, we need multilateralism and stronger ties with our partners and allies in the world to guarantee the welfare of citizens”, and later in the Global Forum against Terrorism, in which he stressed that “support for victims and the fight against terrorism are priorities for the Government of Spain” and affirmed that “only through international cooperation can we address them effectively”. During the Forum, two new members were welcomed (Kenya and Kuwait) and Albares co-chaired, on behalf of Spain and with his Iraqi counterpart, the Group of Friends of Victims of Terrorism.
On the same day, José Manuel Albares also spoke at the Ministerial Meeting on Feminist Foreign Policy, co-organized by Spain and which adopted a declaration renewing the political commitment to feminism. “Spain is and will continue to be a leader in gender equality and Feminist Foreign Policy”, declared the acting minister through the social network X.