Kyiv, Brussels urge Moscow, Minsk to immediately return all illegally deported, forcibly displaced Ukrainians to Ukraine – statement
The European Union and Ukraine issued a joint statement calling on Russia and Belarus to ensure the immediate and unconditional return to Ukraine of all arbitrarily detained, illegally deported, and forcibly displaced civilian Ukrainians, including children.
This is stated in a joint statement by High Representative Kaja Kallas on behalf of the European Union and Ukraine on detained civilians and the humanitarian consequences of Russia’s war of aggression. The text of the statement was released in Brussels on Monday by the press service of the Council of the EU.
The statement notes that the plight of civilians detained in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine was a subject of discussion on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council.
"We strongly condemn Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine and its blatant violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders," the statement reads.
Ukraine and the EU also stated that the International Committee of the Red Cross must be able to fulfill its mandate. "It is necessary to ensure the ICRC’s access to all places where Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians are held, as well as to facilitate the confirmation of the fate and location of missing persons in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. We reiterate our call to respect international humanitarian law and human rights law for all detainees, including the cessation of brutal executions and the use of torture against prisoners of war and civilians held incommunicado," the statement says.
"We reaffirm our commitment to justice and full accountability for international crimes and other violations of international law committed in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We encourage further sustained efforts within the framework of the Council of Europe towards the operationalisation of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine and the International Claims Commission for Ukraine," the text says.
The EU and Ukraine noted that since the beginning of the war of aggression and the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia "continues to suppress dissent and persecute those perceived as a threat to the occupying administrations." "Arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, illegal deportation to the Russian Federation and forced relocation to other parts of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as the denial of the right to a fair trial and guarantees of due process, and communication with family continue to be widely documented, in particular in recent reports of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights," the statement says.
In particular, local officials, journalists, activists, volunteers, religious figures, and others become targets of politically motivated persecution, torture, and inhuman detention conditions. "Russia obstructs independent observers, the press, and the public from gaining access to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to prevent independent journalistic activity and conceal systematic violations of human rights and humanitarian law," the text emphasizes.