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The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) has repeated
a call for a fact-finding mission to inquire about human rights abuses, war
crimes and potential crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
The call of 45 members of the OSCE has come at a time when
the Russianinvasion that started on February 24 has crossed 100 days ravaging a major part
of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Apart from the material destruction that severe bombardments
have inflicted, the human cost has been appallingly high and will not be atoned
to for generations. While the targeteddestruction of infrastructure may be a war strategy to bring an opponent’s
economy to the knees, the heaping of human misery by directing fire on dense habitations
has been a startling abomination.
The UN refugees agency UNHCR estimates that about 6.5 million people
have fled Ukraine’s war-torn areas to neighboring countries while 7.7
million people have become internally displaced people (IDPs) and another 2.9 million
people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. UN Human Rights Office has confirmedmore than 9,000 deaths in Ukraine.
Destructive streak
The destructive streak that the Kremlin has unleashed on the
neighboring nation has stunned many war experts.
The continuing abuses have forced the invoking of the Moscow Mechanism
— the OSCE's procedure to investigate human rights abuses – for a second time.
French OSCE Permanent Representative Christine Fages said in a
statement Thursday that the 45 member states that they request that the
Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) “inquire of Ukraine
whether it would invite a new mission of experts to consider, follow up and
build upon the findings of the Moscow Mechanism report received by OSCE
participating States on 12 April."
"We also request that ODIHR provide any relevant
information or documentation derived from any new mission to other appropriate
accountability mechanisms, as well as national, regional, or international
courts or tribunals that have, or may in future have, jurisdiction," she
said.
War crimes
The April 12 report found "clear patterns" of violationsof international humanitarian law by Russian forces in Ukraine and listed incidents
that constitute war crimes.
The team found "credible evidence" that "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."
In a statement at the OSCE at the time, US Ambassador
Michael Carpenter said that "taken as a whole, the report documents the
catalog of inhumanity perpetrated by Russia's forces in Ukraine."
Image credit: Wikimedia
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