good morning and thank you all very much for joining
us here at this press conference at the Palais de Nion
with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
the Commission was created by the Human Rights Council two years ago in March of 2022
to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights,
violations of international humanitarian law and related crimes.
In the context of the aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation
today, its members are here to share with you the findings of their latest report
with us. Now, um is the chair of the commission, Mr Eric Mercer
and uh, fellow Commissioner M RDA Grover on the far end.
Due to unforeseen circumstances,
the arrival of the third Commissioner Pablo de Grief has been delayed,
But he'll be in Geneva when the commission presents its
report to the Human Rights Council early next week,
most likely on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
So this report is being published online as we speak and you
should all have a copy of that in your inboxes by now,
along with the press release
now the Chairman will deliver opening remarks follow followed by Miss Grover
and then we'll open the floor to questions so we can begin now and over to you.
We are here today to introduce the Commission's report that will
be presented to the Human Rights Council early next week.
This report reflects the Commission's findings at the end of its second mandate
from April 223 to March 224.
the commission travelled to Ukraine 16 times
and visited 34 settlements in nine provinces.
We have relied on interviews with 816 persons.
The commission's investigations are a continuing process.
The current report focuses on three aspects.
The systematic and widespread use of torture against Ukrainian prisoners of war,
the severe impact on civilians on the fighting and the siege of Mariupol
and attacks affecting cultural object and historical sites,
as well as see through of cultural objects.
The commission has investigated additional
cases of torture by Russian authorities
during its current mandate.
It has focused on cases of torture in 11 detention facilities,
seven in areas under Russian control in Ukraine
and four in the Russian Federation.
Victims are men and women, the majority being men aged 21 to 58 years.
The new evidence strengthens the commission's previous findings.
That torch, used by Russian authorities in Ukraine
and in the Russian Federation, has been widespread and systematic.
The latest investigation focused on cases of
of torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
disclose relentless brutal treatment,
inflicting severe pain and suffering during prolonged detention
with blatant disregard for human dignity.
This has led to long lasting physical and mental trauma.
One Ukrainian soldier who was detained and
tortured by Russian authorities in several detention facilities
recounted his experience in the Correctional Colony in the town of Dons
where he was repeated repeatedly, subjected to torture and left with broken bones,
and gangrene on an injured foot.
I lost any hope and the will to live, the soldier said,
adding that he had tried to kill himself,
but perpetrators subjected him to further beating.
After his release. The soldier has been hospitalised 36 times,
turning to the siege of Mariupol
city, the report assesses the grave impact on civilians of the fighting
from the outset of the full scale invasion until the end of May 2022.
Residents described unbearable suffering
endured during relentless shelling and aerial
bombardments which caused large scale death,
People interviewed by the commission recalled seeing large
number of dead bodies on the streets,
in the rubble of their houses and in the city's hospitals.
city damaged or destroyed at least 58 medical infrastructure buildings,
according to data sets obtained.
Describing the general situation
Mariupol, Woman who fled on foot to a neighbouring village called it
the road to death expresses the pervasive feeling of fear,
taking forward the third area of focus mentioned by the chair. In
the commission has documented for the first time attacks by
Russian authorities affecting cultural property
and seizure of cultural objects.
that in the summer of 2023
the Russian armed forces committed indiscriminate attacks in
affecting several buildings
and the Transfiguration Cathedral. Located in the historic centre.
These buildings have special protection
under international humanitarian law being part
of the cultural heritage of peoples.
The commission has also examined information
related to the seizure of cultural property
by Russian authorities in areas under their control.
By transferring cultural objects from
from the state archives of Ko
to the Russian occupied Crimea.
Russian authorities violated
international humanitarian law
and committed the war crime of seizing the enemy's property.
the commission investigated
incidents of rape and other sexual violence
in circumstances which also amount to torture.
It also details incidents of torture
with a sexualized dimension
Ukrainian male prisoners of war.
The commission is concerned
by the continued use of explosive weapons in populated areas.
Russian armed forces fail to take feasible precautions to verify
that the affected objects are not civilian.
The continuation of such attacks for over two years of armed conflict
further demonstrates a pattern of disregard
for the requirement to maintain the distinction
between military objectives on one hand
and civilians and civilian objects on the other.
As previously underscored by the commission,
the commission has continued to investigate allegations
concerning the transfer and deportation of Children
to the Russian Federation
or to Russian occupied territories. in Ukraine.
that the transfer of a group of 46 Children from the KO
was not temporary and hence
amounts to war crime of unlawful transfer.
The report also describes a few violations of human rights by
Ukrainian authorities against persons suspected
of collaboration with Russian authorities.
condemns all violations and corresponding crimes.
the importance of accountability in all its dimensions.
The evidence shows that Russian authorities have committed violation
of international human rights
and international humanitarian law
and corresponding war crimes.
Further investigations are required to determine
whether some of the situations identified
Thank you for your attention.
And we now welcome your questions.
So, uh, now we'll open the floor to questions if you could please uh,
identify uh yourself in the media outlet which you work for.
Uh, we'll take one in the on the right. Thank you.
here in Geneva. Uh, I had a question on, um
on torture because they say it's systematic and, um
What's the goal that the Russians try to achieve
by doing that to prisoners of war or civilians
ill treatment of civilians. I think the purposes were mainly
once they had found or tried to find persons
sympathising with the Ukrainian forces or Ukrainian authorities.
purpose was to extract information from them,
When it comes to prisoners of war,
there seem to have been several purposes, partly again extracting information
Any more questions from the room?
OK, we'll take a question online from, uh, Laurence Sierra, Uh,
CEO of the Swiss News Agency.
Yeah. Thank you for taking my question. Um,
so, uh, kind of follow up.
Uh, now, that's, uh, the end of the of two mandates of Juan year.
Would you say that that pattern of torture
prisoners of wars tend to diminish a little bit with with time? Or at the contrary,
And if I may Quickly, uh, since you focused a lot on prisoners of war,
some instances have qualified. What happened in, uh,
Olenka in the bombing two years ago?
I think it's still not the case from your commission.
Have you reached any conclusion?
Uh, on that And lastly, the timing of the release of the report,
which is on the first day
of the Russian presidential election
Navalny death in custody.
There's been a lot of discussions around that in the last few weeks
you're focusing on prisoners of war
Uh, do you have a message to send to the Russian electorate? Thank you.
On the last point, we have no message is to send anywhere.
The purpose of this commission is simply to, in conformity with its mandate
issues relating to violations and crimes.
And based on those findings, we are simply reporting to the Human Rights Council
found. So that is our task.
Do you want to continue on torture
on the aspect of torture as to whether there has been a decline?
It's the investigation and the interviews
that we have now concluded and the cases that we have now concluded,
we have provided those findings in our report,
and the pattern that is observed is both in terms of
practised systematically across detention centres
as well as the method being used, which therefore
and nature which is more systematic
emphasis this time in the report on
the manner in which torture has been practised by the Russian
authorities both against civilians but particularly the prisoners of war.
So in short, what we have found this time strengthens our previous findings,
but make them yet more solid.
Um we'll take a question from Yuri if you could just identify yourself.
In your report, you mentioned three attacks on cities under Russian control,
two against Donetsk which is nevertheless bombed
every day and one against Belgorod.
You do not attribute any of these attacks to Ukraine,
explaining that the lack of access there did not
allow you to determine those responsible for these attacks.
However, we forget to marry
your pa, to which you also did not have access.
You attribute all the attacks to Russia.
So how to explain this difference?
Do you therefore consider that possibly the Russian soldiers on the line of contact
again with Ukrainians are returning their own weapons not in the direction of
the Ukrainian army but in the direction of the cities under their own control
in order to to strike them? Is this what this is a possibility that you have
and also that Russia is hitting its own cities like Belgorod?
nothing allowed during the second term to attribute any
attack that caused civilian casualties to the Ukrainian army.
2283 civilians have been killed since February 24th
in strikes against civilians in the territories under the Russian,
the control of the Russian army.
And the last question is that in your report you
mentioned two cases of arbitrary detention by the Ukrainian authorities.
during the year 2023 many many representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,
for example, were arbitrary arrested.
you make no mention at any time of the forced mobilisation of civilians.
Despite the newly used videos showing Ukrainian army recruitment agents for
beating and taking men to send them to the front.
Have you not seen anything about this
and how to explain if you haven't seen anything?
Because even the Western media recognise that this is something Really? Thank you.
This was a very long intervention and it was
not so easy on this side of the connection,
really, To individualise the questions,
let me first say that what we have been focusing on in
this report is what will be in the written report public from now
and which was in one way summarised during our press conference and which will also
be summarised in the oral update to the Human Rights Council early next week.
So this is the parameter of what we have been doing This time.
The investigations are a continuing process.
There are many aspects that one could raise.
But given the commission's general capacity and also the wealth of information
and all the events on the ground, there are limits to what we can do
And this is then our fifth report and
the subject were possible.
If extended, the Commission will then continue
There was mention of certain cities and areas under Russian
the query was whether have those been examined? Who are we attributing?
I think, as mentioned both today in the bias
on earlier occasions and in the report,
addressed a total of 23 written communications to the Russian Federation
seeking access as well as information.
All our communications remain unanswered.
Our investigations are limited by the absence of information,
the information being provided or made available to us
as well as severely curtailed by lack of access.
the points raised fall precisely within these domains and the reason why
we cannot investigate further mention was also made of certain media reports,
as the chair has stated earlier.
continue to follow a procedure where
there will be investigation by the commission
and verified as well as corroborated before that is included and presented in the
Lastly, I think on the aspect of
the commission's investigators and team managed to
speak to survivors after they had left
the city of Mariupol, and only then was any access available
Um, let's take a question from Jeremy. Launch from Radio France International.
two questions for the commission, uh, one would be on on rape,
Uh, similar to the question of my, uh, colleague Laurent.
Uh, do you note an increase in in in rape as a weapon of war
do you hear me? Well, because I Yeah, Yeah, you can hear me. Uh, I was Yeah.
Do do you know, an increase in in in rape as a as a weapon of war in Ukraine,
or is it here from the beginning?
particular difference here. And the second question would be on the, uh
the the the the seizure of
properties that you mentioned.
Um, would you consider that, uh, that
new, um, that new incident as a as part of a AAA cultural genocide? Maybe,
Uh, could that fall into that category in Ukraine? Thank you.
On the left. On the last question,
what we have done in our report is to
look into these incidents of
partially destruction of cultural objects
they are reflecting the identity of the population and the country.
legal standard of protection of cultural objects under international law which
has been the legal yardstick under which we have assessed these
offences. So that's for the second one as regards rape.
In our earlier reports, we had said that we've looked at sexual violence,
gender based violence, rape in nine provinces in
and now there are other provinces. We have investigated cases.
our determination is that
both rape and sexual violence
what we have in the cases there's a finding that these amount
to war crimes and in some circumstances we have said that it is
also amounting to torture,
particularly with the focus this time on prisoners of war. We have also
found that there was a sexualized dimension
Ukrainian prisoners of war.
both by the very nature of this violation,
the victims are going to take time to come forward
So at present we are not making any
remark whether there is an increase or decrease in the violation.
What we are seeing is that there has been
use of rape and sexual violence, particularly when
there were house searches when women were detained
and in order to extract information and
sometimes to humiliate and degrade.
Um, let's take a question from Lisa Schlein from Voice of America.
Yes, Uh uh, uh, continuing just a bit on the, uh, issue of of, uh,
rape of women sexual rape.
Uh, Jeremy asked, Would you say it is a weapon of war? What is the reason for raping
women doing this? And also, uh,
I'm wondering whether in the report you have, uh,
figures regarding the numbers of women that have been raped.
You also mentioned that men have been raped. Perhaps you could
elaborate a bit upon that.
And, uh, then, uh, a second question is
have the Russian authorities seen your report?
Do you Ha Have they responded to it?
Uh, I. I mean, I think it's important to find out
what it is. They, uh, they how they regard your report. Thank you very much.
First, the issue of whether
parties to the armed conflict have had the opportunity to see the draught report,
and the answer to that is yes,
conformity with normal standard with respect to commissioner inquiries.
So they have both had the possibility to comment upon
This is a methodology we have been following from the outset,
and we have noted with regret that the Russians have not responded
to any of the draught we have sent them during previous
Nor have they done so this time
moving in the direction of the rape dimension. Let me start with the
there. I think it's fair to say that this is something that was mainly seen
in connection with prisoners of wars under the control of prison guards.
there were incidents of rape, and there were also
of certain body parts, which
As for the female aspect, Linda
I think, as was said earlier to our determinations, are whether
violations of international human rights, international humanitarian law
The phrase weapon of war is nowhere used either in the past or now.
In the report because that is, we are working within a legal mandate.
investigation and findings do. Show
the cases show that from ages 15 to 83 so girls as well as women have been raped and
there has been sexual violence.
These have been, as I said earlier, in
situations of house search by Russian forces in detention,
often in the presence of family members.
It has been accompanied by physical beating
as well as of other family members who have also suffered torture.
and at times it has been to punish and humiliate.
There have been instances of the same victim
having to suffer multiple sexual assaults and rapes.
We've also noted that the victims have
and as well as stigma on certain occasions,
and the trauma is also suffered by other family members who have been
In our determinations. These are violations of
international human rights.
some circumstances. Rape has also amounted to torture,
the war crime of rape and sexual violence.
Um, OK, let's go to Emma Farge, Uh, from Reuters.
You mentioned that some of the violations may constitute crimes against humanity.
Which ones, uh, do you feel are most likely to fall into that category?
And how close are you to making that determination?
Do you think that's gonna happen?
Um and secondly, could you just explain
to whom you are passing this evidence on which, uh,
judicial authorities you are cooperating with thanks very much
co operation with other authorities. It follows directly from our mandate that we
aimed. We are set up with a view to ensure accountability
and such accountability can both be at the national level.
And at the international level,
this means that we can be asked for information
partly by domestic authorities,
from various countries or by international courts,
for instance, ICC or other entities.
there is a certain contact between
us and national and international
So and there is also a certain
exchange of information or
between these entities, but they are, of course, totally independent.
These are different investigations that are carried out without any kind of
co ordination. They are separate and independent
issue. I think you referred to the issue of crimes against humanity.
Could I say more generally that we have
in our previous report referred to crimes against humanity
we have talked about it with respect to the waves of
attacks since October 223
energy related infrastructure and the issue that has arisen is whether
some of the impact of that kind of attacks can amount to crimes against humanity.
That's something we have raised in previous report and we are still working on it.
areas, but that's one dimension and
the examination, the investigations are continuing.
have mentioned it is of course, torture.
It follows from what we have just explained
here that that is also an ongoing process.
We have in a way generally strengthened the
widespread and systematic part of the issue,
but remains investigation concerning the policy element
and that is something we will continue to look into if the mandate is extended
and thirdly, we mentioned crimes against humanity with respect to Mari
we have now been able even if we don't have access to
pool, as just mentioned by
to through interviews with people who have left ma
to talk with us from elsewhere
broader picture of what happened there.
yet lead to any firm legal conclusions. But
the purpose of this report is clearly to show that there
violations of international humanitarian law
and that there is a need for further investigations.
Ok, let's go to, uh, one question from, uh, Jamie Keaton of Associated Press.
He posed this question in a chat.
Thanks, II. I guess I gotta ask it really quickly. Hi. Thanks. Todd.
Uh, can you please describe what your assessment is about the nature of the torture?
Um, and and the report uses the word horrific.
So I'm just wondering how you reach that conclusion.
Sure of the torture covered
Of course, there were beating
electronic devices being used on the area's body parts,
treatment of the prisoners of war
picture drawn up emerging from
dealt with, How they were treated over
enables us to use the word horrific.
Um, we have one question online from, uh, Stefan Schuler.
Uh, a freelancer. Um, I'll just read it. It says, uh, targeting cultural heritage,
abduction of Children, systematic humiliation and torture
in the report. Um, also, Russia's, uh, propaganda is mentioned.
Does that sum up to the suspicion of genocidal motives?
Let me start with the genocide. Let me start
As regards the genocide thing,
we have said in our previous reports that
we are well aware of allegations of genocide.
And we have said that that is something we are concerned about
are looking into. And we have been done that
in previous reports, as far as in these reports,
with other aspects, this is an ongoing
process. But what we have said is that we would look further into
the issue of direct and public incitement to commit genocide in certain media
And this report contains a summary of our work here in the
sense that we have gone through a large number of such statements
are using dehumanising language and calls for hate violence and destruction.
And we are concerned with statements supporting
the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine,
calling for the killing of a large number of persons.
So this is something we note.
But we are simply saying that this is something we will continue to look into.
We have not formed any conclusions at these states,
and we will recommend further investigations.
Thank you. Um, I don't see any more questions online.
Or, uh, does anybody have any from the room?
Yes, I just wondered, What's next for you?
are you going to be renewed or what's going to happen?
That's not up to decide, not up to us to decide.
We have now finished our second mandate, and
it will then be up to the
Council of Europe Council of Human Rights Council to assess the situation
and to make a decision as to whether
they want the commission's mandate to be extended.
So this is not in our hands.
Thank you. Um, if, uh, there are no further questions.
Uh, would any of the commissioners like to make, uh,
any closing remarks or add anything else?
All right. Well, that brings us to the end of this press conference today.
Thank you all for joining us. Have a good day.