On Monday morning, the United Nations Human Rights Council heard details of “continued evidence” of war crimes committed by Russian troops, including torture and rape, as well as allegations of genocide.
In the Kherson region, for example, Erik Møse, chairman of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, told the council that “Russian soldiers raped and committed sexual violence against women of ages ranging from 19 to 83 years,” often together with threats or commission of other violations.
“Frequently, family members were kept in an adjacent room, thereby forced to hear the violations taking place,” Møse said.
Torture
Møse also told the council that the commission’s investigations in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia indicate the “widespread and systematic” use of torture.
The main targets of torture were people accused of being informants for Ukrainian forces. The torture at times involved use of electric shocks, the commission found. “Every time I answered that I didn’t know or didn’t remember something, they gave me electric shocks … I don’t know how long it lasted. It felt like an eternity,” Møse quoted a survivor as saying.
This led to “severe pain and suffering.” In some cases, the “torture was inflicted with such brutality that it caused the death of the victims,” Møse also said.
Genocide allegations
Møse also voiced concern “about allegations of genocide in Ukraine.”
“The commission is concerned by the continued evidence of war crimes committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine during its first mandate,” Mose told the council. The first mandate from the U.N. Human Rights Council was given in March 2022, just days after Russian forces invaded. The panel is now working under a second mandate, reports The Associated Press.
Møse also told the council that the commission was concerned that “Some of the rhetoric transmitted in Russian state and other media may constitute incitement to genocide.” He also said the commission was continuing its investigations.
Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations that Russia was “clearly” committing genocide. Reuters reports that more than two dozen European states, as well as Australia and Canada, asked the International Court of Justice, also called the World Court, to “determine that it has jurisdiction in a case brought by Kyiv alleging that Russia abused the Genocide Convention to provide a pretext for the invasion of Ukraine.”
In their final arguments in front of the International Court of Justice Monday, representatives for Russia asserted that the court does not have jurisdiction and that, in fact, they invaded Ukraine to prevent a genocide. They asked the court to dismiss the case.
So far, Russia has ignored the International Court of Justice’s orders to stop its military actions. The court has no way of enforcing its decisions, but Reuters reports that experts say the ruling of the court may have implications for compensation payments after the war.
Holly Richardson is the editor of Utah Policy.