CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Human Rights Council – 58th Session
Tuesday 18th March 2025
Item 4
Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
Speaker: Mr. Volodymyr Shcherbachenko, Head of Eastern Ukrainian Centre for Civic Initiatives
Mr. Chair,
Minority Rights Group, Eastern Ukrainian Centre for Civic Initiatives and Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights thank the Commission for its continued reporting on international law violations and crimes committed in the context of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. We reiterate that while the physical and psychological harms caused to victims are in many cases ‘irreparable’, formal reparations remain essential.
Since 2014, our organisations have documented high numbers of cases of arbitrary detention of civilians, often accompanied by sexual violence and torture, and enforced disappearances in areas of Russian occupation or control. Violations have increased dramatically since the large-scale invasion of February 2022. We corroborate the contextual elements of these crimes identified by the Commission, which lead to the conclusion that they amount to crimes against humanity.
Ukraine has taken steps to provide social protection for former civilian detainees. However, serious gaps remain in state assistance, particularly for those released outside official prisoner exchanges, and many are left to manage their suffering on their own.
In acknowledging victims’ needs and the rights to which they are entitled, we point to the Commission’s recommendation to the international community to strengthen their support for accountability mechanisms that include measures of truth, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence.
We call on the international community to support legal pathways to hold Russia accountable for aggression against Ukraine and make reparations for civilian harm a priority in discussions on countermeasures and in negotiations to end the conflict.
We hope that Ukrainian authorities, in consultation with civil society and affected communities, with particular attention to minority communities, will be able to develop and implement an effective national compensation or provisional reparations framework for civilian harm, including deprivation of liberty.
I thank you.
Photo: UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
