Ukrainian and Russian human rights defenders plan to jointly monitor the observance of prisoners of war rights

Ukrainian and Russian human rights defenders will form a joint monitoring group to monitor the observance of the rights of prisoners of war in Ukraine and Russia. This was discussed during the international online discussion of human rights defenders “Observing the rights of prisoners of war: what formats of public control are necessary?”, which took place on June 29 in the Solidarity Talks format.

“Several participants in the discussion expressed the idea of creating a joint Ukrainian-Russian human rights monitoring group. The members of this platform of interaction will have a lot of work to do in the near future, in particular, to ensure the organization of public control over the observance of the rights of prisoners of war,” said Mykhailo Savva, moderator of Solidarity Talks, member of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties (Kyiv).

Also, the issue of the number of prisoners was discussed during the meeting. Currently, it is known for certain that several thousand people are in captivity, however, it is extremely difficult to establish the exact number due to the lack of official information.

Human rights defenders emphasized that both Ukraine and Russia need effective independent control over the rights of prisoners of war. Human rights defenders do not have enough information about the conditions of detention of prisoners of war, about compliance with their right not to be subjected to torture and treatment that degrades human dignity.

“We do not rule out massive politically motivated court sentences for prisoners of war. The situation of Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the occupied territories of Ukraine is of particular concern. The punishment in the form of execution is practiced in these territories, and such sentences have already been handed down to three Ukrainian servicemen,” Mykhailo Savva added.

It is worth noting that Solidarity Talks is a problem-solving tool developed over many years of close cooperation between human rights defenders of Ukraine and Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia states. Every time at such meetings, experts from both countries look for opportunities for joint actions of human rights defenders from different countries.

This event is a joint effort of the Center for Civil Liberties and the International Helsinki Association. About three dozen human rights defenders, lawyers, volunteers, and relatives of prisoners of war from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Germany took part in the discussion.