Protecting Ukrainian POWs

Welcome to IWPR’s Frontline Update, your go-to source to hear from journalists and local voices at the front lines of conflict.

 THE BIG PICTURE  

Russia has been found responsible for “widespread and systematic violations” of international law in the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

In a major report from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a panel of experts documented arbitrary killings as well as “torture, ill-treatment, denial of fair trial rights and unsafe detention and transfer conditions”.

 VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE 

"Russia avoids any contact with international legal organisations [which] have no access to the places where Ukrainian prisoners are held - and everyone understands why when they see the prisoners’ condition after captivity,” said Yuliia Akimova, a journalist at RBK-Ukraine and contributor to IWPR’s Ukraine Justice Report, whose work focuses on the treatment of prisoners of war. “While Ukraine complies with all international agreements on the proper treatment of prisoners, ensuring they return home healthy and unharmed, Ukrainian soldiers quite literally leave a piece of their lives behind in captivity."

“It is critically important for the international community to pay attention to this and put pressure on Russia to follow the rules for the treatment of prisoners of war."

 WHY IT MATTERS 

POWs have combatant immunity unless they are proved to have committed war crimes. The Geneva Convention stipulates that members of the armed forces who have surrendered must not be subjected to violence, cruel treatment or torture and must be protected from humiliating and degrading treatment.

But an overwhelming body of evidence is growing that Russia has failed to respect this. IWPR has covered these extensive abuses of Ukrainian POWs – and the justice processes aiming to hold perpetrators to account – since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. An Amnesty International report earlier this year also found that Russian treatment of Ukrainian POWs had amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 THE BOTTOM LINE 

Ongoing efforts to prosecute the Russian forces committing atrocities including torture and summary executions are a vital part of the accountability crucial to not only ensuring future stability but also allowing societies to heal.

IWPR’s Ukraine Justice Report continues to document these war crimes justice processes and its editor, Olga Golovina, stressed that this legal route was part of a holistic process of recovery for those who had survived Russian detention.

“Russia must face punishment as a country that legitimises torture, conceals crimes, and has remained unaccountable for many years,” she continued. “Fair justice for former POWs is critically important, but those returning from Russian captivity also need the basics - medical examinations and proper treatment, psychological support and financial assistance during their rehabilitation. Most of them endured not only torture, but systematic abuse and the humiliation of their human dignity.”