Video Player is loading.
Advertisement
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
        Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
        /
        4:08
        /
        MP4
        /
        304.1 MB
        Download

        Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC

        HRC - Press conference: Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine - 19 March 2025

        Ukrainians tortured, raped, executed by Russian captors, Human Rights Council hears

        The Human Rights Council on Wednesday heard gruesome testimony of torture, rape and execution of Ukrainian detainees and soldiers allegedly committed by Russian forces, as a high-level independent probe into Russia’s full-scale invasion delivered its latest mandated report in Geneva.

        According to the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, enforced disappearances of civilians committed by Russian authorities have been “widespread and systematic” and likely amount to crimes against humanity.

        “Many persons have been missing for months or years and some have died,” said Erik Mose, Chair of the independent investigative panel, whose Commissioners are not UN staff nor paid for their work. “The faith and whereabouts of many remain unknown, leaving their families in agonizing uncertainty.”

        Requests from families of missing persons to Russian authorities for information about their relatives are typically met with unhelpful replies, while one young man was “detained and beaten when he went to the authorities to enquire about his missing girlfriend”, the Commission noted.

        As in previous presentations prepared for the Human Rights Council, the Commission’s latest report contains equally disturbing findings about the use of torture by Russian authorities, panel member Vrinda Grover told journalists in Geneva: “A civilian woman who had been raped during confinement in a detention facility held by Russian authorities stated that she pleaded with the perpetrators, telling them she could be their mother's age, but they dismissed her saying. ‘B***h, don't even compare yourself to my mother. You are not even a human. You do not deserve to live.’ We have concluded that Russian authorities committed the war crimes of rape and sexual violence as a form of torture.”

        Ms. Grover noted that the Commissioners’ investigations confirmed that members of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) “exercised the highest authority. They committed or ordered torture at various stages of detention, and in particular during interrogations, when some of the most brutal treatment was inflicted”.

        Challenged about the focus on alleged rights abuses by Russian authorities in their latest report, the Commissioners noted that they had detailed alleged violations committed by the Ukrainian forces “whenever we have found [them]”.

        Commissioner Pablo de Greiff also noted that despite more than 30 requests for information from Russian authorities about possible Ukrainian attacks, “we have received absolutely none” and pointed to evidence of reprisals against supposed collaborators working with the Russian authorities.

        Another aspect of the independent rights investigators’ report involves a growing number of incidents in which the Russian armed forces apparently killed or wounded Ukrainian soldiers who were captured or attempted to surrender. “This constitutes a war crime,” Mr. de Greiff said, relaying the testimony of a former soldier who alleged that “a deputy brigade commander told the entire regiment, quote, 'Prisoners are not needed, shoot them on the spot.'”


        Audio Files 2
        Download HRC - Press conference: Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine - 19 March 2025 (Continuity)
        Download
        Download Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (Edited Story)
        Download

        Similar Stories

        UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on attacks around aid sites in Gaza

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

        UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on attacks around aid sites in Gaza ENG FRA

        “Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 03 June 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Press Conferences | FAO , ILO , OHCHR , UNDP , UNHCR , WHO

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 03 June 2025 ENG FRA

        Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Labour Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.

        Gaza aid update - OCHA 30 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OCHA

        Gaza aid update - OCHA 30 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians

        Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 30 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Press Conferences | IFRC , OCHA , UNCTAD , WMO

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 30 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Federation of the Red Cross, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Trade and Development, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

        Humanitarian Aid in Gaza

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 27 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Press Conferences | WHO , OCHA , UNRWA

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 27 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the International Telecommunication Union.  

        Gaza humanitarian update - OCHA, UNRWA

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA

        Gaza humanitarian update - OCHA, UNRWA ENG FRA

        As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.

        Uganda UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani  urges president to reject bill allowing trials of civilians in military courts

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OHCHR

        Uganda UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani urges president to reject bill allowing trials of civilians in military courts ENG FRA

        UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.

        UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango: South Sudan: UN human rights chief decries escalating hostilities, arbitrary arrests and hate speech

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OHCHR

        UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango: South Sudan: UN human rights chief decries escalating hostilities, arbitrary arrests and hate speech ENG FRA

        UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 23 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Press Conferences | WHO , WMO , OCHA , UNHCR , OHCHR , UNDRR

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 23 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Michele Zaccheo, Chief, UNTV, Radio and Webcast Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

        Syria humanitarian update OCHA - WHO 23 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OCHA , WHO

        Syria humanitarian update OCHA - WHO 23 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis  - UN humanitarians

        Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

        Gaza health update - UNRWA - OCHA - WHO

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO

        Gaza health update - UNRWA - OCHA - WHO ENG FRA

        UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount

        Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday,  But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 20 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Press Conferences | WHO , UNRWA , UNHCR

        UN Geneva Press Briefing - 20 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organization.