Human Rights House Foundation statement
HRC60 – Item 4 – Interactive Dialogue – Ukraine Commission of Inquiry
19 September 2025
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Thank you, President.
New documentation from our Ukrainian partners at ZMINA shows how practices of the Russian Federation have evolved since 2022, shifting from suppressing active resistance to systematically attacking any civilian perceived as “disloyal” to the occupation. Their report records at least 572 civilian criminal prosecutions, many on fabricated charges such as “terrorism” or “espionage”.
These prosecutions happen alongside unlawful and incommunicado detention, torture, and intimidation of victims and their families. ZMINA’s analysis shows how Russia has extended its legal system and courts into occupied regions, thereby creating a façade of “legitimacy” for what are, in fact, grave breaches of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity.
This situation is set against further reports of atrocities by Russia’s armed forces. The recent UN expert dossier, published on 21 August and compiled by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, confirms the deliberate and systematic use of sexual violence as a tool of torture and intimidation.
President,
The Commission has previously underlined the relevance of the International Criminal Court. We ask the Commission how its ongoing investigations, alongside the documentation of civil society, could further strengthen the evidence base for ICC proceedings concerning crimes against humanity in Ukraine?
Thank you.
