In a statement published on Tuesday 11 March, Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed his concern at the “sidelining” of the issue of human rights in the peace talks on the war in Ukraine.
He sees it as a “stark illustration” of the current geopolitical upheaval and the retreat of multilateralism.
The Commissioner has said that “a plan is urgently needed to make human rights the guiding principle for all current and future peace efforts”.
Key elements include: accountability for gross violations of human rights (which implies support for the International Criminal Court and the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime Of Aggression against Ukraine), a redress and reparations mechanism for victims, the release of prisoners of war and civilian detainees, the repatriation of deported Ukrainian children, access to temporarily occupied territories for human rights monitoring bodies, and support for Ukraine to transition out of martial law.
According to the Commissioner, the EU accession pathway, which carries with it human rights obligations, will have to make reference to the implementation of a peace agreement and check that it meets its own requirements.
Michael O’Flaherty also stressed the importance of the presence of Ukraine and its civil society at the negotiating table.
“Ignoring human rights today means undermining peace tomorrow”, he concluded.
Read the declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/fvl (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)