Returning from a visit to Ukraine from 17 to 21 March, Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, called on Tuesday 25 March for “human rights to be central to any peace process”.
“Ukraine’s human rights commitments should serve as a foundation for reconstruction and recovery”, he said, stressing “the importance of supporting Ukraine in easing restrictions on human rights in an eventual transitioning out of martial law” and calling on European states to fill the funding gap caused by the freeze on US aid for humanitarian and human rights projects in Ukraine.
In his opinion, respect for human rights must be central to any plans for the voluntary return of millions of internally displaced persons and refugees.
He is also calling on the international community to step up its monitoring of the human rights situation in the occupied Ukrainian territories, and demanding the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians held in Russia, as well as the return of children who have been victims of enforced disappearances.
All of these points are “essential to a just and lasting peace”.
Michael O’Flaherty also supports the Council of Europe’s Register of Damage for Ukraine, as well as the work to create a special tribunal for the crime of aggression and the investigations carried out by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
With regard to compensation linked to the Register of Damage, he “notes with interest” the discussions underway on the possible use of frozen Russian assets.
Reaffirming that “Russia’s continuing aggression against Ukraine is an attack on the whole of Europe and the core values shared by all members of the Council of Europe”, the commissioner noted that “the EU accession pathway carries with it human rights obligations as also should any peace agreement, and that these two important sets of commitments will need to be aligned and cross-referenced”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)