EU and Ukraine urgently call on Russia and Belarus to return all detained and deported Ukrainian civilians, including children

The European Union and Ukraine urgently called on Russia and Belarus to ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return to Ukraine of all arbitrarily detained, unlawfully deported and forcibly transferred Ukrainian civilians, including children. 

In a joint statement released by the EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and Ukraine, released on 13 July, after a discussion in Brussels in the margins of the Foreign Affairs Council, both strongly condemned Russia’s systematic refusal to confirm the identity, location, and fate of Ukrainians held in captivity or reported missing, in violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The EU and Ukraine also called upon all states to intensify coordinated pressure on Russia to fulfil these obligations without further delay.

“Since the start of its war of aggression and attempted illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia continues to suppress dissent and persecute those perceived as a threat to the occupation administrations,” the statement says. “Arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, unlawful deportation to the Russian Federation and forcible transfers to other parts of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and the denial of fair trial rights and due process guarantees as well as family contact continue to be widely documented including by recent reports by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.”

According to the statement, civilians, including local officials, journalists, activists, volunteers, religious figures and others, remain subject to politically motivated prosecutions, torture and inhumane detention conditions. “Russia prevents independent observers, the press, and the public from gaining access to the temporary occupied territories of Ukraine in order to prevent independent reporting and to cover up its systematic violations of human rights and humanitarian law,” the document says.

The EU and Ukraine also demanded that the International Committee of the Red Cross be allowed to carry out its mandate: “It must be ensured that ICRC has access to all places where Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees are held, and contribute to the confirmation of the fate and whereabouts of persons reported missing in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.”

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to justice and full accountability for international crimes and other violations of international law committed in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

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