The report says “credible evidence” has been found, suggesting that violations of even the most basic human rights (right to life, prohibition of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment) have been committed, mainly in areas under effective control of Russia or entities under the overall control of Russia. “
In a statement to the OSCE on Wednesday, US Ambassador Michael Carpenter said that “taken as a whole, the report documents the catalog of inhumanity perpetrated by Russian forces in Ukraine”.
“The report is powerful in documenting the sheer scope of the Russian government’s brutality,” Carpenter said.
The 110-page report details reports of targeted killings, torture, rape and enforced disappearances.
The OSCE fact-finding mission “received several reports, sometimes accompanied by photographic evidence, alleging that Russian troops used the Red Cross emblem to mark non-medical military vehicles, Ukrainian flags, military or police uniforms or vehicles, white flags, civilian clothes and OSCE symbols to facilitate their military operations, “it said.
It includes reports of a Ukrainian translator who was “held captive for nine days” by Russian forces. Left in an icy cellar, he was repeatedly beaten with an iron rod and butts, tortured with electricity, deprived of food for 48 hours and subjected to imitation execution.
It includes the report of a woman who was repeatedly raped, “in the presence of her young child”, by a “drunk Russian soldier” who killed her husband.
“There are allegations of rape, including gang rape, committed by Russian soldiers in many other regions of Ukraine,” the report said.
It quoted the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights ombudsman as saying that “500,000 civilians had been deported from Ukraine to Russia” and that “they had all been forcibly displaced, first brought to some Russian concentration camps near Ukraine.” border and that some of them were then taken all the way to Sakhalin Island, but released there. “
Many of the incidents were reported in the report as war crimes, but did not fully declare them as such. However, the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol said: “This attack is therefore a clear violation of (international humanitarian law) and those responsible for it have committed a war crime.”
“Although it may be that a hospital was used by the defender for military purposes or destroyed by mistake, it is unlikely that this was the case when 50 hospitals were destroyed,” the report said.
It notes “a particularly insidious form of attack”, known as “double-touch attacks”, which Russian forces carried out in Kharkov in early March. A Russian cruise missile struck the Kharkiv district administration – and a second strike hit the building after rescuers arrived minutes later.
“Not possible”
The report is the result of a three-week fact-finding mission by the three OSCE experts and covers the period from the start of the war on February 24th to April 1st. The mission was launched after 45 countries launched the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, which is used to deal with allegations of human rights abuses.
The report notes that experts have faced a number of constraints – time and resource constraints, lack of access to Ukraine – so that “a detailed assessment of most allegations of IHL violations and the identification of war crimes and crimes against humanity against specific accidents were not possible. “
However, “it is not possible that so many civilians were killed and wounded and so many civilian objects, including houses, hospitals, cultural property, schools, multi-storey residential buildings, administrative buildings, penitentiaries, police stations, water stations and energy systems “they would have been damaged or destroyed if Russia had complied with its obligations (international humanitarian law) regarding delimitation, proportionality and precautionary measures in the conduct of hostilities in Ukraine,” he said.
The report does not cover the period when events such as the Bucha atrocities came to light, which it said “requires serious national and international investigations, on the ground, with forensic experts”. It states that “if confirmed, such killings would constitute gross violations of (international humanitarian law) and war crimes.”
The report says “violations have occurred on both the Ukrainian and Russian sides.”
“However, the violations committed by the Russian Federation are far greater in nature and scale,” it added. Most of the reported violations from Ukraine are related to the treatment of Russian soldiers.
The report also notes that Russia, which is a member of the OSCE, did not provide additional information to the fact-finding mission, but instead “forwarded the mission to official statements and briefings by the Government of the Russian Federation, which made it impossible for the Mission.” to take into account the Russian position on all relevant incidents, except on the basis of official open sources and websites. “
“The Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation has informed the mission upon request that it considers the Moscow Mechanism to be largely outdated and redundant,” the report said.
“More detailed investigations are needed”
The OSCE report welcomes the work done by other organizations – the International Criminal Court (ICC), the UN, the International Court of Justice (ICC) – to investigate crimes committed in Ukraine.
“More detailed investigations are needed, in particular with regard to the establishment of individual criminal responsibility for war crimes,” it said.
Carpenter, the US ambassador to the OSCE, told reporters that “the information and evidence gathered by the fact-finding mission … will be shared with other jurisdictions, such as the ICC and the Council of Ministers.” courts which may claim jurisdiction. “
Carpenter did not rule out the possibility that the Moscow mechanism could be activated to consider further reports of atrocities committed in Ukraine.
This story has been updated to include additional details.
Add Comment