On 3 March 2022 the Moscow Mechanism of the human dimension of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was invoked by Ukraine supported by 45 participating States. Consequently, a Mission of three experts was appointed on 14 March 2022, which according to the rules of the Moscow Mechanism was to complete its work within three weeks and therefore delivered its report to Ukraine as the inviting state on 5 April 2022.

Given the wide mandate, the Mission invited all potential sources to contribute evidence and did receive support from many sides, in particular from NGOs on the ground and from those with particular investigative capacities.

Civil Network OPORA also processed the data that citizens informed via a web resource  https://russiancrime.org in the end of February and in March, and sent the information for the OSCE expert mission. The submission included the data on destruction and appropriation of property (especially about the destruction of schools), killing of civilians, use of prohibited weapons, rape, taking hostage, forced expulsion of people from their homes and their displacement, improper treatment of the dead, leaving people with no food. Geographic coverage of information about war crimes: Kyiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, and Kherson regions. Some posts only contain the description of the crimes, whereas photos, videos, or other evidence are not available. Therefore, to prove the elements of those international crimes, additional testimonies and evidence will be required. At the same time, OPORA analyzed open sources and collected 450,000 information posts, including 360,000 media files from social media and Telegram channels that serve as video and photo evidence of events occurring in Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the Permanent Representation of the Russian Federation informed the Mission upon request that it considered the Moscow Mechanism largely outdated and redundant. The Permanent Representation also declined to nominate a liaison person but referred the Mission to the official statements and briefings of the Government of the Russian Federation, which made it impossible for the Mission to take account of the Russian position on all pertinent incidents, except based on official open sources and websites.


REPORT ON VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED IN UKRAINE SINCE 24 FEBRUARY 2022
(by Professors Wolfgang Benedek, Veronika Bílková and Marco Sassòli)

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A detailed assessment of most allegations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations and the identification of war crimes concerning particular incidents has not been possible. Nevertheless, the mission found clear patterns of IHL violations by the Russian forces in their conduct of hostilities. If they had respected their IHL obligations in terms of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack and concerning specially protected objects such as hospitals, the number of civilians killed or injured would have remained much lower.

Similarly, considerably fewer houses, hospitals, cultural properties, schools, multi-story residential buildings, water stations and electricity systems would have been damaged or destroyed. Furthermore, much of the conduct of Russian forces displayed in the parts of Ukraine it occupied before and after 24 February 2022, including through its proxies, the self-proclaimed “republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, violates IHL of military occupation.

Some violations and problems were also identified regarding practices attributable to Ukraine. The Mission is in particular concerned about the treatment of prisoners of war, who originally were considered criminals, and treated in ways that are incompatible with Geneva Convention III. Generally, allegations made by the Russian Federation could not be confirmed that Ukraine and not Russian forces had caused some of the death, injury or destructions attributed to Russia by the media, Ukrainian authorities and NGOs.

The Mission has also considered the impact of the current conflict on human rights. While it has not been able to verify all the reported incidents that involve violations of International Human Rights Law (IHRL), it has found credible evidence suggesting that such violations concerning even the most fundamental human rights (right to life, prohibition of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment) have been committed, mostly in the areas under the effective control of Russia or entities under overall control of Russia.

The Mission has also concluded that the impact of the conflict on the enjoyment of human rights has gone beyond the direct violations of these rights. By causing a high level of destruction and by interfering with the provision of vital services (education, healthcare), the conflict started by the unlawful attack by Russia has made it very difficult for Ukraine to effectively respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of its inhabitants.

Furthermore, the Mission has found that while the conflict has affected all the inhabitants of Ukraine, it has exerted and continues to exert particularly negative effects on individuals belonging to vulnerable groups, such as women, children, older persons or persons with disabilities.

The Mission is not able to conclude whether the Russian attack on Ukraine per se may qualify as a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population. It however holds that some patterns of violent acts violating IHRL, which have been repeatedly documented in the course of the conflict, such as targeted killing, enforced disappearance or abductions of civilians, including journalists and local officials, are likely to meet this qualification. Any single violent act of this type, committed as part of such an attack and with the knowledge of it, would then constitute a crime against humanity. While some findings of this report are necessarily preliminary due to the short period of investigation in the context of an ongoing international armed conflict with a large number of events occurring every day that could constitute violations of international law or even international crimes, the report can inform other bodies’ more in-depth investigations into legal accountability. The findings may also contribute to establishing political accountability. With regard to violations of IHL and IHRL the responsibility lies with both the Russian Federation and Ukraine to observe their respective obligations.

As this report shows, violations occurred on the Ukrainian as well as on the Russian side. The violations committed by the Russian Federation, however, are by far larger in nature and scale. Finally, the report highlights the various relevant accountability mechanisms at the different levels including the pertinent courts, some of which are already at work. A variety of mechanisms do exist and new ones could be created to prevent impunity for the violations and crimes identified.

As early as in the beginning of March, 2022, over 40 countries sent and address to the director of the Bureau for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights, Matteo Mecacci. They urged to initiate the Moscow Mechanism for the russian invasion into Ukraine. “Moscow mechanism is a procedure that allows a short-term international mission to establish facts to address a specific issue with human rights in the OSCE region. On March, 15, a mission of three experts started their work.