1. Thank you, Chair. I will deliver an abridged version of this statement this
afternoon. The full statement will be circulated in writing and I request that it
be attached to the Journal of the Day.
2. I am delivering this statement on behalf of the following participating States:
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands,
North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
3. Today, our delegations will send the following letter to ODIHR Director Maria
Telalian, invoking the Moscow Mechanism, with the support of Ukraine, as we
continue to have concerns regarding violations of international humanitarian
law and international human rights law following Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, including with regard to ill treatment of Ukrainian
Prisoners of War (POW).
4. Director Telalian,
5. With Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in its fourth year and as
Russia’s illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city
of Sevastopol and certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of
Ukraine has entered its eleventh year, we continue to witness large scale
human suffering and alarming reports of violations of international
humanitarian law (IHL) and of international human rights law (IHRL), many of
which may amount to the most serious international crimes.
6. Against the backdrop of the full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine,
launched by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022, a number of
credible sources, including the Moscow Mechanism expert missions, the
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Independent International
Commission of Inquiry, as well as civil society organizations, have reported
that the Russian Federation has consistently violated the rights of prisoners of
war (POWs) throughout their detention and at multiple detention facilities
within the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the Russian
Federation. There have been credible reports that the extensive and routine
torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian POWs throughout their detention
constitutes a continued systematic pattern of state policy and practice by the
Russian Federation. Torture follows common patterns across different
locations, indicating it is a coordinated, deliberate, and systematic practice.
7. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, 45 OSCE Delegations, following bilateral
consultations with Ukraine under the Vienna (Human Dimension) Mechanism,
invoked Paragraph 8 of the Moscow (Human Dimension) Mechanism. The
reports of the independent missions of experts, received by OSCE participating States, confirmed our shared concerns about the impact of the
Russian Federation’s invasion and acts of war, its violations and abuses of
IHRL, and violations of IHL in Ukraine.
8. We remain particularly alarmed by the findings of the expert missions that
some of the violations may amount to war crimes and crimes against
humanity as well as the identification of patterns of reported violations of IHL
and IHRL regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.
9. The prohibition against torture in international law is absolute. Parties to an
armed conflict are obliged to ensure the rights of POWs as set out in the Third
Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and
Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. Prisoners of war must at all
times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and
against insults and public curiosity. No physical or mental torture, nor any
other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from
them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer
may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous
treatment of any kin Torture and inhuman treatment of POWs are grave
breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and likewise war crimes under the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
10.ODIHR’s Ukraine Monitoring Initiative has continued to identify patterns of
reported IHL and IHRL violations related to the treatment of Ukrainian POWs
including in their Sixth Interim Report of 13 December 2024 and their Seventh
Interim Report of 15 July 2025. Interviews with survivors and witnesses
attested to a continued practice of systematic torture and other IHL and IHRL
violations perpetrated against Ukrainian POWs prompting serious concerns
about the Russian Federation’s failure to comply with the fundamental
principles that govern the treatment of POWs.
11.In equal measure, the OHCHR and the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission
in Ukraine (HRMMU) have reported on the systematic and widespread use of
torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russian authorities. In its March 2023 report,
the HRMMU documented violations of IHRL and IHL in 32 of 48 detention
facilities in Russia and Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, related to
torture and other ill-treatment, dire conditions of internment including
inadequate quarters, food, hygiene, and medical care, along with restricted
communication, forced labor, and a lack of access of independent monitors. .
Many were held incommunicado deprived of the possibility to communicate
with family or the outside world. Russian authorities subjected Ukrainian
POWs to unlawful prosecutions for mere participation in hostilities; using
torture to extract confessions; and denying fair trials.
12.According to witness testimonies, there were numerous incidents whereby
POWs died in captivity due to execution, torture, ill-treatment and/or
inadequate medical attention as well as inhumane conditions during their
captivity.
13.The OHCHR’s October 2024 Report on the Treatment of Prisoners of War
further documented detailed and consistent accounts of torture or ill treatment
in Russian Federation custody.
14.Survivors have described the wide-ranging methods of torture or ill-treatment
of Ukrainian POWs including: severe physical beatings; electrocution
(including the targeting of genitalia); excessively intense physical exercise;
stress positions; dog attacks; mock executions (including simulated
hangings); threats of physical violence and death; sexual violence, including
rape; threats of rape and castration; threats of coerced sexual acts; and other
forms of humiliation.
15.Since the end of August 2024, OHCHR also has recorded a significant
increase in credible allegations of executions of Ukrainian servicepersons
captured by Russian armed forces, involving at least 97 individuals.
16.The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (UN
COI) stated on 23 September 2024 that it has evidence of widespread and systematic torture by Russian authorities against Ukrainian civilians and
POWs in the temporarily occupied territories and in Russia. They concluded
that torture follows common patterns across different locations, indicating it is
a coordinated practice. In their March 2025 report, the UN COI again called
on the Russian Federation to immediately end the widespread and systematic
use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment committed against civilian
detainees and prisoners of war.
17.The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine is investigating the reported
execution of 273 Ukrainian POWs, including 208 who were reportedly
executed on the battlefield and 59 in the ''Olenivka'' colony. However, the real
number of those executed is likely much higher.
18.We are deeply concerned about the severity and frequency of these violations
and abuses. We are particularly appalled by reported executions of Ukrainian
POWs and Ukrainian soldiers rendered hors de combat upon their surrender
and by the desecration/mutilation of bodies. We are also deeply concerned
with the practice of filming and distributing images of these abhorrent
incidents.
19.Following grave concerns over the ill-treatment of Ukrainian POWs,
highlighted, inter alia, by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine,
the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine and the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OSCE, we call on
all parties to the armed conflict ensure that POWs are treated in full
compliance with IHL.
20.We recall that OSCE participating States have committed themselves to
respect IHL, including the Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment
of Prisoners of War of 1949, bearing in mind that the willful killing, torture,
inhuman treatment, causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health
of persons protected under the Geneva Conventions, including prisoners of
war, constitutes a war crime. No prisoner of war may be subjected to physical
mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned
and carried out in his interest. Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be
protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against
insults and public curiosity.
21.We also recall that the prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm of
international law without territorial limitation, which applies at all times and in
all places. Measures of reprisal against POWs are prohibited.
22.We call on the Russia Federation to end the torture and ill-treatment of all
detainees and ensure adequate conditions of detention including the provision
of basic needs such as food, water, clothing, and medical care. We further call
for providing timely and accurate information on detainees’ whereabouts and
legal status, and for granting international humanitarian organizations, like the
International Committee of the Red Cross, unfettered access to such persons.
23.Gravely concerned by the continuing impacts of Russia’s ongoing aggression
against Ukraine, and gravely concerned by credible allegations of the torture,
ill-treatment and executions of Ukrainian POWs, and soldiers hors de combat,
the delegations of Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, following bilateral consultations with Ukraine under the Vienna Mechanism, invoke the Moscow (Human Dimension) Mechanism under Paragraph 8 of that document.
24.We request that ODIHR inquire of Ukraine whether it would invite a mission of
experts to build upon previous findings, and:
25.To establish the facts and circumstances surrounding possible contraventions
of relevant OSCE commitments; violations and abuses of human rights; and violations of IHL, including possible cases of war crimes and crimes against
humanity, related to the treatment of Ukrainian POWs by the Russian
Federation ;
26.To collect, consolidate, and analyse this information including to determine if
there is a pattern of widespread and systematic torture, ill-treatment and
execution of Ukrainian POWs and soldiers hors de combat and/or at detention
facilities by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories and
in Russia and
27.To offer recommendations on relevant accountability mechanisms.
28.We also invite ODIHR to provide any relevant information or documentation
derived from any new expert mission to other appropriate accountability
mechanisms, including the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
or the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, as well as
national, regional, or international courts or tribunals that have, or may in
future have, jurisdiction.
29.Thank you for your attention.