Human Rights Research League

–

Research. Education. Advocacy. Development. (R.E.A.D.)

Ukraine

 

In the fourth year of its war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian Federation continues its flagrant violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, as comprehensively documented by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.

 

Among the many atrocities committed, particularly outrageous is the treatment accorded to Ukrainian servicemen and -women hors de combat, POWs and retained medical personnel, who have been systematically and in a widespread manner subjected to torture, including sexual violence, by the Russian authorities. 

 

Other appallling actions by the Russian Federation concern the expansion of its activities of indoctrinating Ukrainian children in Russian occupied territory and enrolling them in military training for service to the Russian State. Compelling in this fashion allegiance to an Occupying Power is contrary to both IHL and IHRL.

 

The sum of the atrocities committed against, and policies enforced upon Ukrainians by the Russian Federation in its war of aggression against Ukraine have caused tremendous physical and psychological harm to the people of Ukraine. 

 

Human Rights Research League regularly intervenes on these and other issues of concern to Ukraine at the UN Human Rights Council, submits written statements to the UN, organizes side events, seminars and conference, and has supported Ukraine in Rule of Law initiatives and in the form of providing guest lectures on Upholding Human Rights to students at universities in Ukraine during the ongoing war.  

 

 

 

On 3 July 2026, at the 62nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Human Rights Research League (HRRL) delivered an oral statement on Ukraine during the Interactive Dialogue on the oral presentation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Secretary-General's Report on Human Rights in Crimea. In his intervention, HRRL Chairman Tom Syring underlined that the Russian Federation continued to disregard the most fundamental rules governing human rights and humanitarian law. HRRL is appalled by the pressure exerted on residents in the temporarily occupied territories to suppress their Ukrainian identity, swear allegiance to the occupying power, obtain Russian citizenship, and even enlist in the Russian armed forces. 

 

Furthermore, HRRL condemned the continuing deportations and forcible transfers of civilians, including children separated from their parents or legal guardians, from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, and urged all Member States to exert pressure to uphold General Assembly resolution ES-11/9 (UN doc. A/RES/ES/11-9) requesting Russia "to cease, without delay, any further practice of forcible transfer [...] and indoctrination of Ukrainian children".

 

Ukrainian civilians continued to be subjected to extrajudicial executions, torture, and enforced disappearances. In this 20th year since the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, HRRL also urged the Human Rights Council and Member States to increase their efforts towards full implementation of this Convention. For the full statement, please see the video of the Oral Statement on UN Web TV.

 

Human Rights Research League also submitted a Written Statement (in collaboration with our Ukrainian partner, the Media Initiative for Human Rights  - MIHR) on 'Treating the Application of Court Rulings Issued in the Russian Federation and in Russian Occupied Territories of Ukraine in Contravention of International Law as Incompatible with International Legal Cooperation' (UN doc. A/HRC/62/NGO/272) to the United Nations General Assembly.