Canada-led group seeks arbitrator over 2020 downing of Ukrainian plane by Iran
- Iranian forces shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 shortly after its take-off from Tehran on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 people aboard
- Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine have been seeking reparations on behalf of the victims’ families
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A group of countries led by Canada on Wednesday called for an arbitrator to settle claims against Iran over its shooting down of a Ukrainian aircraft in January 2020.
“Those who lost loved ones in the downing of PS752 deserve justice,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly tweeted on Wednesday.
“We have taken an important step to advance our pursuit of that justice at the international level this week and will continue to work together to hold Iran accountable for this tragedy.”
Iranian forces shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 shortly after its take-off from Tehran on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 people aboard – including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
Three days later, Iran admitted that its military had mistakenly targeted the Kyiv-bound Boeing 737-800 plane.
Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine have been seeking reparations on behalf of the victims’ families.
They said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they “have requested that Iran submits to binding arbitration of the dispute related to the downing of Flight PS752,” under a 1971 multilateral treaty on threats to civil aviation.
And if the parties cannot agree within six months on the terms for organising an independent arbitration tribunal, the dispute may be referred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
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The group accuses Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of having “launched unlawfully and intentionally” two surface-to-air missiles at the aircraft.
The Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation has pointed in a report to the “alertness” of its troops on the ground, who shot the missiles amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States at the time.
Ukraine, which lost 11 citizens in the disaster, has said the report was “a cynical attempt to hide (the) true causes” of the tragedy, while Canada said it contained “no hard facts or evidence.”
