GENEVA, January 25. /TASS /. Representatives of the UN monitoring mission in Ukraine have visited Russian prisoners of war in places of detention to document reports about human rights violations, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Marta Hurtado Gomez told TASS on Wednesday.
Asked whether the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) knew about a video of Russian POWs being tortured in Ukraine, Hurtado said that the government of Ukraine had "granted our Human Rights Monitoring Mission access to Russian prisoners of war in official places of internment." "We have thus been able to speak confidentially with POWs and document allegations of human rights violations," the spokesperson said. "We hold regular meetings with the Ukrainian authorities on these and other issues," she added.
According to Hurtado, the OHCHR reported on "cases of torture of Russian prisoners of war or people hors de combat, allegedly, by Ukrainian armed forces." Specifically, a corresponding report was issued last June, she said. Besides, in a report covering the first six months of the special military operation in Ukraine, the OHCHR "reported about 50 cases of torture or different forms of ill-treatment of POWs at the hands of Ukraine."
"In our public reports, through meetings with Ukrainian state authorities and in letters, the UN Human Rights Office has been urging all parties, including Ukraine, to respect and ensure respect, at all times and in all circumstances, for international human rights law and international humanitarian law," Hurtado emphasized. The OHCHR welcomed "statements of Ukrainian officials condemning such violations," and noted "that the General Prosecutor’s Office stated that it has launched investigations into such incidents."
On January 14, Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said she had received a video of two Russian prisoners of war being tortured from their relatives. She called on her Ukrainian counterpart, the United Nations Committee Against Torture, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross to immediately demand that Ukraine comply with the Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibiting the use of torture, violence and outrages upon personal dignity.