Russia’s war in Ukraine – OSCE SHDM I

On 13 March 2023, Human Rights House Foundation hosted “Russia’s war in Ukraine – Accountability for war crimes & serious human rights violations”, a pre-event ahead of the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting. The event is organised with the financial support of the European Union, the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Quotes from the speakers

We’ve faced an unprecedented scale of atrocities committed during a year of Russian large-scale aggression in Ukraine. Decades will be needed for documentation and justice processes. Over 70,000 war crimes are registered and these numbers are growing.

Tetiana Pechonchyk, ZMINA Human Rights Centre, Human Rights House Crimea / Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv

As part of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, children are a target of Russian forces, including their efforts to erase children’s Ukrainian identity.

Mariia Sulialina, CCE Almenda, Human Rights House Crimea / Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv

Event description

In the twelve months since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, numerous international crimes and severe human rights violations by Russian forces have been documented in Ukraine.

Based on its investigations of the events in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has previously reported reasonable grounds to conclude that an array of war crimes, violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been committed in Ukraine. It has argued that “there is an undeniable need for accountability”.

In 2022, OSCE participating States launched the Moscow Mechanism on two occasions to investigate and report on human rights violations stemming from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and to report on the human rights situation within Russia. At the same time, observers have questioned what next steps the OSCE and participating States can take in the absence of consensus to respond meaningfully to the human rights violations linked with Russia’s invasion and hold perpetrators accountable.

This event, held prior to the start of the first SHDM in 2023, will focus on these key issues with panellists drawn from Ukrainian civil society as well as keen observers of the OSCE.

The event is organised by Austausch e.V., Human Rights House Foundation, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, and is sponsored by CCE Almenda, Civic Solidarity Platform, Human Rights House Crimea, and ZMINA Human Rights Center