Mr. President,
Human Rights Watch welcomes the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, which concludes, among other findings, that widespread and systematic use of torture and enforced disappearances by Russian forces amount to crimes against humanity.
As the US administration advances negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, the Commission’s conclusions highlight the urgent need for civilian protection and justice to be central to any diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Evidence of the appalling treatment of thousands of Ukrainian civilians unlawfully detained by Russia reinforces the critical need for their immediate release before negotiations begin. Every minute they are in Russian custody they are at risk of torture and other mistreatment.
We join the Commission’s call for justice to be done to hold accountable those responsible for torture, enforced disappearances and other war crimes. Human Rights Watch and others have documented a wide array of war crimes and other violations by Russian forces, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, targeting civilians with drones, coercing residents of occupied territories into Russian citizenship and military service, deportations and forced transfers of civilians, including children, and attempts to erase Ukrainian identity, including by imposing the Russian state curriculum and carrying out political indoctrination in occupied areas of Ukraine.
It is essential that perpetrators of grave crimes be held to account, that arrest warrants against President Vladimir Putin and five other high-ranking officials are enforced, and that victims receive justice and reparations for the harm they have suffered.