Report of the Moscow Mechanism mission experts on Ukraine presented at the OSCE Permanent Council
26.04.2024 / 15:32 | Aktualizováno: 26.04.2024 / 15:37
On April 25, the report of the mission of experts – Prof. Dr. Veronika Bílková (CZ), Dr. Cecilia Hellestveit (NO) and Dr. Elīna Šteinerte (LV), on violations and abuses of international humanitarian and human rights law, war crimes and crimes against humanity, related to the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of Ukrainian civilians by the Russian Federation, was presented at the OSCE Permanent Council. The report was prepared within the Moscow Mechanism, which was launched by 45 OSCE participating States (including the Czech Republic) on February 29, 2024.
The report builds upon previous findings within the Moscow Mechanism and establishes the facts and circumstances surrounding possible contraventions of relevant OSCE commitments, violations and abuses of human rights, provides an impartial assessment and offers recommendations to relevant accountability mechanisms, as well as national, regional, or international courts or tribunals. The report states that Russia's treatment of Ukrainian civilians, including arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial executions or denial of fundamental fair trial guarantees, constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. Given the systematic, consistent, and deliberate pattern of actions targeting Ukrainian civilians, the mission of experts has reasonable grounds to believe that both the war crimes and the crimes against humanity have been committed.
The Mechanism, established by all OSCE participating States in 1991, allows for one or more participating States to request ODIHR to “inquire of another participating State whether it would agree to invite a mission of experts to address a particular, clearly defined question on its territory relating to the human dimension”.
The observations of the mission of experts are available here.
Follow us on