Security group: Russia violated international humanitarian law
Russian forces in Ukraine have committed violations of international humanitarian law, some of which could constitute war crimes, an investigation by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has found.
The security organization said in a report released Wednesday that it had found “clear patterns” of violations of international law by the Russian military in the war. It concluded that Ukrainian forces had been guilty of some abuses as well, particularly in the treatment of prisoners of war.
“The violations committed by the Russian Federation, however, are by far larger in nature and scale,” the report said. The document is one of the first indepth studies of alleged rights abuses during Russia’s twomonth offensive against Ukraine.
The OSCE, an intergovernmental organization based in Vienna with 57 member countries, focuses on promoting security, arms control, human rights, free and fair elections, freedom of the press and other issues of importance to liberal democracies. It played a role in monitoring the often-broken cease-fire agreement in eastern Ukraine before Russia’s invasion.
On March 3, the security body set up an investigation into rights violations after 45 of its members agreed to send experts to Ukraine. Russia declined to cooperate with the organization’s three-person team of investigators, making it “impossible for the mission to take account of the Russian position on all pertinent incidents,” the report said.
The investigators examined a myriad of reports of attacks on civilian targets, rapes and abductions, as well as the use of banned munitions, including cluster bombs and incendiary weapons. The investigators found that both sides had used illegal munitions.
The report said that investigators had been unable to provide detailed assessments of most rights violations but that Russian forces had clearly violated international law by targeting sites like hospitals. If Russia had respected its obligations under international agreements, it said, “the number of civilians killed or injured would have remained much lower.”
The investigators examined attacks on a theater and a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol, both of which the report said appeared to be war crimes. Photographs of pregnant women fleeing the charred wreckage of the maternity hospital garnered international attention. The report confirmed three deaths, including one pregnant woman.
That attack must have been deliberate, according to the investigators, who noted that no warning was given. “Those responsible for it have committed a war crime,” the report said.
Investigators also said the Mariupol theater attack, which local authorities have said killed at least 300 people, was a war crime. Hundreds of people had sought shelter from bombing in the theater when it was destroyed. The word “children” was written in tall white letters on the pavement outside.
Ukrainian authorities said the theater was hit by a Russian airstrike. Moscow blamed its destruction on Ukrainian forces.
The OSCE investigators said they “did not receive any indication that this could be the case,” but they did not directly identify Russia as the perpetrator.
One area in which the report highlighted humanitarian violations by Ukraine was in its treatment of prisoners of war, describing some incidents, particularly early in the conflict, as “incompatible” with the Geneva Conventions.
The report noted that Ukraine and Russia were both investigating a video that appeared to show Ukrainian soldiers beating and shooting Russian prisoners in the legs. If confirmed, the investigators said, the act could constitute a war crime or crime against humanity.
Investigators also said the official counts for prisoners of war on both sides were too low given military casualty numbers in the thousands. Ukraine says it is holding 562 soldiers, and Russia says it has 500 Ukrainians.
“Those numbers raise the concern that either soldiers falling into the power of the enemy are not given quarter, which would be a war crime, or that they are secretly detained,” investigators said.