At the session that took place in Canada on 7 October, the Assembly of the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted a resolution condemning the actions of the Government of the Republic of Belarus in committing an act of unlawful interference that deliberately endangered the safety and security of Ryanair Flight FR 4978 and the lives of all those on board, when on 23 May 2021 it diverted the passenger plane on an international route to Vilnius to land in Minsk, thus violating the Chicago Convention.
“We had the opportunity to witness an important event in international aviation, when the majority of the countries of the world — members of the ICAO Assembly — expressed their will, condemning the illegal actions of the Belarusian government that threatened civil aviation and people’s safety. This decision confirmed a clear global view that civil aviation cannot be used for illegal purposes, and any threat to its security is intolerable. On this occasion, I once again sincerely thank the ICAO Council, the Secretariat and the investigation team, whose joint efforts made it possible to reveal the course and details of this serious incident, and to clearly name and condemn the perpetrators”, said Julius Skačkauskas, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, who participated in this session of the ICAO Assembly.
The ICAO Assembly is the highest body of this organization, comprised of all ICAO Member States, i.e., 193 countries of the world. The Assembly examines the conclusions of the ICAO Council, takes appropriate actions and decides on any matter raised by the ICAO Council.
The resolution of the ICAO Assembly takes into account the conclusions of the ICAO Council confirmed on 18 July 2022 that based on the facts established by the incident investigation team, a number of senior officials of the Government of Belarus had knowingly participated or were involved in providing information about a false bomb threat to Ryanair Flight FR4978 leading to its diversion to land at Minsk Airport.
“The Assembly endorses the determination of the ICAO Council that, based on the findings of the FFIT Report, the actions of the Government of Belarus in knowingly participating in or being involved in providing information about a false bomb threat to Ryanair Flight FR4978 leading to its diversion to land at Minsk Airport, and thereby deliberately endangering the safety and security of a commercial passenger aircraft and the lives of all those on board, amounted to the use of civil aviation by Belarus for a purpose inconsistent with the aims of the Convention on International Civil Aviation which is a flagrant and serious violation of its Article 4”, stated the ICAO Assembly resolution.
On 12 August 2022, the ICAO Council officially informed Belarus of the violation of the Chicago Convention, but Belarus thus far has not provided any information regarding its actions. In its resolution, the Assembly calls on Belarus to take appropriate action as a matter of urgency in view of this violation.
The ICAO Assembly resolution was adopted in accordance with the provisions and principles of the Chicago Convention, while confirming that the primary objective of the ICAO is to ensure the safety and security of civil aviation worldwide.
In response to the forced landing of the Ryanair passenger plane in Minsk on 23 May 2021, the Ministry of Transport and Communications immediately officially appealed to ICAO, requesting to open an investigation into the aviation incident in Belarus and to recognise the country’s airspace as unsafe. Lithuania actively cooperated with international institutions and provided all necessary information. The ICAO Fact-Finding Investigation Team (ICAO FFIT), which conducted the international investigation, visited the countries involved in the incident and collected information, data and facts that would help line up the entire sequence of this aviation incident. During the investigation, the ICAO FFIT investigators met with officials from Lithuania, Poland, the United States and Belarus.
After an investigation that lasted more than a year, the final report prepared by the ICAO investigators revealed the sequence of events and the circumstances of the incident. Taking into account the results of the investigation, on 18 July 2022, the ICAO Council approved the conclusions, which emphasise that the Belarusian authorities caused a serious threat to civil aviation by their actions and violated the provisions of the Chicago Convention. Upon the decision of the Council, the report of the investigation was made public.
On 7 October, the ICAO Assembly also adopted a resolution condemning Russia over violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as its airspace, by carrying out military aggression, and over re-registering in Russia the aircraft belonging to foreign leasing companies instead of returning them to their owners, and using them without airworthiness certificates. The resolution calls on Russia to immediately stop the aforementioned actions, which violate the Chicago Convention and pose a threat to the safety and security of international civil aviation.
The said actions of Russia led to the fact that in the ICAO Council elections held during the ICAO Assembly session, Russia was not elected to the Council for the first time since its membership in ICAO.