19 March 2025
Mister President,
FIDH and its member organizations in Ukraine, the Center for Civil Liberties and the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, welcome the Commission’s report establishing additional international crimes committed by Russia’s Armed Forces following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
These findings are consistent with and draw on those of Ukrainian CSOs, which have documented more than 90,000 instances of violence that may amount to international crimes. Many of these abuses occur in places of detention located in Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine and inside Russia itself. The Tribunal for Putin initiative has documented over 600 cases of torture against detained Ukrainian civilians who have managed to find their way back to Ukraine, with thousands more remaining in Russian prisons, while reports indicate that nearly all detained POWs endure similar mistreatment. As peace negotiations approach or unfold with nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory currently under Russian occupation, serious human rights violations and impunity in these areas are likely to persist beyond the cessation of active hostilities should they remain under Russia’s effective control.
FIDH and its member organisations in Ukraine therefore call on UN Member States to:
– place human rights at the heart of any peace negotiations by calling for the immediate release and repatriation of all POWs held by all parties to the armed conflict, as well as all Ukrainian civilians detained by Russia; and
– ensure justice by supporting all ongoing accountability efforts —at the national and international level, including investigations by the International Criminal Court, ongoing investigations based on extra-territorial jurisdiction, and the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
I thank you.