‘Human-rights focus needed in Ukraine deal’
The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights has said that a just and lasting peace in Ukraine must address human-rights concerns.
Irish lawyer Michael O’Flaherty said that it was “encouraging” to see diplomatic efforts to end the war intensify around the world, particularly after the plan presented by US President Donald Trump.
He added, however, that he wanted to reiterate the “critical message” that human rights provided the only universally agreed and most reliable framework for peace-making.
“The ambition must be to safeguard a future that fully respects the human rights and dignity of the Ukrainian people,” O’Flaherty stated.
Accountability
The council’s human-rights chief had previously set out what he saw as the key human-rights elements of a peace deal in a memorandum earlier this year. These included:
- Mechanisms for accountability for perpetrators of gross human-rights violations and international crimes, and fair reparations for all victims of Russia’s aggression (since 2014),
- Sustainable protection of the rights of those most affected – including the unconditional release of all detainees and the return of unlawfully transferred Ukrainian children,
- All planning for reconstruction and recovery must be human-rights-based and honour human dignity, prioritising those most in need, and
- The meaningful inclusion of women and a multiplicity of actors (including civil society, national and international human-rights actors) at all stages of the peace process.
The commissioner plans to publish a further report on embedding human rights in the peace process on foot of a closed-door meeting in Warsaw earlier this month that involved the Ukrainian Ombudsman, Ukrainian civil society, and officials from governments and international organisations.