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ABSTRACT
Article 103 of the United Nations Charter establishes the primacy of states' obligations under the Charter over their other international obligations. The effect of Article 103 on states' obligations has been discussed in the jurisprudence and literature but only in the context of obligations conflicting with binding Security Council decisions. Those discussions fail to shed light on its legal significance in a variety of other situations. This writing explores the application of Article 103 in other contexts. It explores the legal ramifications of Article 103 applied to states' obligations that conflict with the Charter itself, with obligations contained in certain General Assembly resolutions, and with International Court of Justice ("ICJ") judgments. The importance of filling this gap can be seen when applying the rule in Article 103 to the conflict in Ukraine, including to the Ukraine v. Russia case under the Genocide Convention before the ICJ, as a case study.
I. INTRODUCTION
As the violent conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II ("WWII"),1 one would expect the United Nations-the international organization established after WWII with the primary objective of saving "succeeding generations from the scourge of war"2-to play a meaningful role in resolving the conflict.
Established in 1945, the United Nations Charter ("United Nations Charter" or "the Charter") exemplifies this central and unique role in resolving conflicts in several ways.
First, the Charter encompasses some of the fundamental substantive principles of international law, such as the equality of states, the obligation to settle disputes peacefully, and the prohibition on the use of force and nonintervention in the domestic affairs of other states.3
Second, the Charter establishes an institutional framework to deal with such conflicts. First and foremost, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a dispute or situation that falls under the mandate of the Security Council (the "Council"), the fifteen-member organ tasked with primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.4 Yet Russia has blocked meaningful action in the Council.5 Action has been taken in the General Assembly (the "Assembly"), the plenary organ of the United Nations where all member states are represented, but its resolutions in this regard are nonbinding.6 On February 26, 2022, Ukraine initiated a case against Russia...