The tortured Ukrainians, raped, executed by the Russian kidnappers, the Human Rights Council hears

The Council – the first UN human rights forum – also heard updates to allegations of current abuse in Bélarus, North Korea and Myanmar.

According to the commission of inquiry into Ukraine, the applied disappearances of civilians committed by the Russian authorities have been “widespread and systematic” and probably constitute crimes against humanity.

“Many people have been missing for months or years and some have died,” said Erik Mose, president of the independent investigation panel, whose commissioners are not UN personnel or paid for their work.

“” Fate and where many remain unknown, leaving their families in a scary uncertainty. “”

Agony of detention for parents too

The requests of families of people who have disappeared to the Russian authorities to obtain information on their relatives is generally encountered by unnecessary answers, while a young man was “detained and defeated when he went to the authorities to find out about his missing girlfriend,” noted the commission.

As in previous preceding presentations for the Human Rights CouncilThe latest report of the Commission contains equally worrying conclusions on the use of torture by the Russian authorities, the Vrinda Grover panel told journalists in Geneva:

“A civilian woman who had been raped during the imprisonment in a detention center held by the Russian authorities said that she had pleaded with the authors, telling them that she could be the age of their mother, but they rejected her saying,” Slut, do not even compare yourself to my mother. You are not even a human. You do not deserve to live ”.

“” We have concluded that the Russian authorities have committed war crimes of rape and sexual violence as a form of torture. “”

Russian FSB connection

Ms. Grover noted that the investigations of the commissioners confirmed that the members of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia “exercised the highest authority. They committed or ordered torture at various stages of detention, and in particular during interrogations, when some of the most brutal treatments were inflicted. ”

Confined by the emphasis on the so -called victims of rights of the Russian authorities in their last report, the commissioners noted that they had detailed alleged violations committed by the Ukrainian forces “each time we found [them]».

Communication unit

Commissioner Pablo de Greiff also noted that despite more than 30 requests for information from the Russian authorities on possible Ukrainian attacks, “we have absolutely not received” and stressed evidence of reprisals against supposed collaborators working with the Russian authorities.

Another aspect of the report of independent rights investigators implies an increasing number of incidents in which the Russian armed forces have apparently killed or injured Ukrainian soldiers who have been captured or tempted to surrender.

“This constitutes a war crime,” said Mr. de Greiff, relaying the testimony of a former soldier who allegedly allegedly allegedly allegedly told the entire regiment, citing: “Prisoners are not necessary, shoots them on the spot”. »»

Russia was expelled from the Human Rights Council in 2022 by a majority of two -thirds of the United Nations General Assembly following the large -scale invasion of Ukraine.

Belarus of the repression of dissent

The Council has also focused on allegations of abuse of generalized rights in Belarus, characterized by a repression of political dissent and freedom of expression, arbitrary detentions, tortures and trials in ability.

Presenting his latest report to the Geneva forum, the Group of independent experts in Bélarus insisted that some of the violations he had investigated “equivalent to the crimes against humanity of political persecution and imprisonment».

The president of the panel, Karinna Moskalenko, has mapped the detention establishments where torture or degrading treatment would take place. She regretted that she and her independent investigative colleagues could not access the Bélarus.

The group – including expert rights Susan Bazilli and Monika Stanisława Płatek, in addition to Mskalenko Moskalenko – has also produced a list of people allegedly responsible for human rights violations since the disputed power of May 2020 who returned the long -term public demonstrations Alexander Lukashenko, provoking widespread public demonstrations.

Generalized impunity and repression

Today, in Bélarus, hundreds of thousands of citizens and 1,200 political prisoners remain in detention, said Moskalenko, describing arbitrary arrests as “a permanent characteristic of the repressive tactics of the Belarusian authorities”.

She said that her group had gathered “large evidence” according to which the prisoners serving short prison sentences “were systematically subject to discriminatory, degrading and punitive detention” and in certain cases of “torture”.

The Belarusians are forced by exile for a series of reasons, argued the panel, in particular an absence of truly democratic institutions, the absence of an independent judicial power, the perception of civil society as a threat and culture of impunity.

Inside the country228 civil society organizations were found, in more than 87 entities and 1,168 people added to the “extremist” listsAdded Mskalenko.

Postpone advice

In response to the report, the Belarus rejected all the allegations of violations and torture.

“This avenue is an impasse for the Human Rights Council,” said Larysa Belskaya, permanent representative of Belarus at the UN Geneva. “It is counterproductive to create country mechanisms without the consent of the affected country.”

The representative said that 293 people had been pardoned in 2024 after admitting “crimes related to anti-state activity”.

The country has also managed for three years “a functional committee examining citizens’ requests abroad to regulate their legal situation in the country,” she added.

DPR Korea: reduced basic freedoms, in the midst of prolonged isolation

THE United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human rights in the Democratic People’s People’s Republic of Korea (RPDC) Elizabeth Salmón, expressed a “serious concern” in his briefing on the board, highlighting the country’s prolonged isolation, the lack of humanitarian aid and the increase in restrictions on fundamental freedoms.

Presenting it Third report, She explained that these factors “aggravated people’s human rights” in RPDC – more commonly known as North Korea – with The government imposing “stricter laws” to reduce “rights to freedom of movement, to work and to freedom of expression and opinion”.

“Extreme militarization policies”

In addition, recent reports suggest that RPDC has deployed some of its troops to the Russian-Ukraine conflict, she added.

“Although military conscription is not contrary to international law, The poor human rights conditions of soldiers in service in the RPDC plus the generalized exploitation by the government of its own people raises several concerns“Warned Ms. Salmón.

Among them, the “extreme militarization policies” of Pyongyang which are supported by an extensive dependence on labor systems and forced quotas and that “only those who are faithful to management” receive regular public food distribution at a time when more than 45% of the population, 11.8 million people, are undernourished.

Myanmar: International financing reductions aggravating the crisis

Also Wednesday, the Human rights expert in Myanmar warned that the military junta continues its brutal repression, targeting civilians with air strikes and forced conscription, while international cuts aggravate an already disastrous humanitarian situation.

Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews told the council session that the junta “loses regularly” loses ground “but that he is unleashed in response, with civilians in the reticle.

“The junta responded to these losses by instituting a military conscription program which includes seize young men in the streets or their houses in the middle of the night“He said.

He described air strikes and the bombing of hospitals, schools, camps for internal displaced people, as well as religious rallies and festivals.

“” I spoke with families who have experienced the indescribable horror of seeing their children killed in such attacks. The forces of the junta committed general rape and other forms of sexual violence“, He added.

Adding to the crisis, financing reductions-especially in the United States-has a strong impact on essential humanitarian aid.

Mr. Andrews said that the withdrawal of support already had catastrophic consequences, including the closure of medical facilities and rehabilitation centers, as well as the dismissal of food assistance and health for the most vulnerable.

He urged the Human Rights Council “to do what others cannot” and help consolidate international aid and political support that “made a huge difference” in people’s lives.

“The Human Rights Council was called the United Nations Consciousness. I urge the member states of this organization to express themselves, to publish a declaration of conscience against this catastrophe which takes place. “”

Special rapporteurs are appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, are not UN staff and do not receive wages for their work.

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

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