“They closed our office in Russia, but we will continue to denounce human rights violations there”

Charred bodies in the streets. Common graves with handcuffed corpses. Destroyed hospitals. Streets erased. Images of the destruction caused by the russian invasion a Ukraine they are accumulating almost at the same rate as the denunciations of crimes made by citizens who managed to escape the terror of war.

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First it was Kharkiv, then Mariupol and recently Buchathe epicenters of which have been described as “butcher shops” or deliberate attacks against the civilian population in the midst of the conflict.

The Ukrainian authorities have denounced that since the beginning of the offensive, launched on February 24 by order of Vladimir Putin, thousands of war crimes have been committed. From Moscow They respond by denying the accusations and assuring that it is a propaganda strategy of Kyiv.

In this context, the work carried out by different humanitarian organizations is fundamental, dedicated to documenting, through teams deployed on the ground, the different human rights violations suffered by the population.

“The work is really complex and is carried out by specialized teams. These teams are also interdisciplinary, from ballistics specialists to those who can collect these testimonies and those who can provide psychological support. We also carry out a verification of the images that come to us. The situation right now is really dangerous, which is why I think it is important to highlight the role that the Ukrainian civil society organizations themselves are having. They are doing everything to provide rescues, first aid and food. They are constantly risking their lives because we see that the bombings and indiscriminate attacks are continuous”, he explains to Trade Marina Navarro, director of Amnesty International Peru.

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This humanitarian organization of British origin has spent the last 60 years documenting and denouncing the different violations of human rights registered in the world. In the last hours, in addition, its offices in Russia have been closed by order of the Ministry of Justice of that country due to “violations of Russian law”.

Marina Navarro, director of Amnesty International Peru. (International Amnesty/)

—How do you explain the decision adopted by the Russian justice system?

The Russian authorities have closed our office in Moscow, like those of other human rights organizations, for telling the truth and defending rights. This will not stop us from continuing to speak out against human rights violations by the Russian government, whether in Russia, in Ukraine, in Syria or in any other country.

—This week Ukraine’s prosecutor general said more than 4,000 war crimes were recorded. How can we define what is lived in that country?

What we see in Ukraine is a systematic attack on the civilian population, without any kind of discrimination. We have seen it from the beginning of the Russian aggression. Key sites such as hospitals, schools and residential buildings have been attacked. But what has been seen in the last week and the testimonies collected in different locations confirm that civilians are being indiscriminately attacked. Some cases told us how they were shot when going to a grocery store. In others, a rape survivor recounts how her husband was murdered and abused. There are different testimonies that are corroborated by the terrible images, like those of Bucha, for example.

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“How can we understand what a war crime means?”

They are those that occur when international humanitarian law is violated. They can be rape, torture, inhuman treatment or extrajudicial executions. All this must be investigated and, if applicable, criminally prosecute the culprit.

‘He mentioned Bucha, but a few weeks ago we could say the same about what was happening in Mariupol or Kharkiv. Is it then a strategy?

Yes, it has been seen in many places. The most unfortunate thing is that throughout 2021 we have seen how there were increases in conflicts in the world, how there were also new conflicts and the existing ones increased. Ethiopia, Syria, Myanmar, there was an escalation and the international community did absolutely nothing. In the case of Russia, we see a clear breach of the United Nations charter and the passivity of the international community is what we denounce.

Bags with corpses have been deposited in the Bucha cemetery in order to be identified by Ukrainian forensic experts. The city has experienced one of the most tragic episodes since the beginning of the Russian offensive on Ukraine. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT/)

—Russia has just been suspended from the UN Human Rights Council, how would you rate that?

Our organization supports and expects the UN General Assembly to guarantee the objective application of all membership criteria to all candidate States and members of the Council, in a constant and rigorous manner. When a state is elected to the Council, it is expected to apply the highest standards of human rights protection and it is more than evident that Russia is in breach, from all points of view, of its national and international human rights obligations, and its commitments as a member of the Human Rights Council.

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What other steps should the international community take?

We will support any jurisdictional accountability mechanism that ensures effective investigations into all crimes by all parties to the conflict, and takes steps to prosecute those responsible for these heinous crimes, but we also call for a rapporteur for Russia, as Many rights of the population are being violated within Russia itself, where any dissident voice with the war is stopped. In addition, let us remember that it is possible to act through universal jurisdiction as in Spain with Pinochet, the Franco regime in Mexico or the case of Myanmar in Argentina. The important thing is that these crimes cannot go unpunished.

—Who would be punished for these crimes?

Let us remember that according to the doctrine of command responsibility, all hierarchical superiors, whether they are military commanders, ministers or heads of state, whether they have given the orders or knowing that war crimes were being committed and did nothing to prevent it, have criminal responsibilities and must be considered in the process.

Source: Elcomercio