Zelenskyy administration to create human rights office
The president's office agreed with human rights defenders to create a headquarters (Photo:Office of the President of Ukraine)
The Office of the President of Ukraine will create a headquarters to publicize and investigation cases of human rights abuse, presidential chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak announced on Telegram on Nov. 9.
Yermak stated that part of the reason for this new office’s creation was the inability of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to observe detention conditions for Ukrainian prisoners-of-war.
"There were no representatives of the Red Cross in the mission that was supposed to be located on the demarcation line and demand from Russia access to places where Ukrainian prisoners of war were detained," Yermak recalled, referring to a planned joint mission between the ICRC and Ukraine on Oct. 17, which was intended to observe the detention of Ukrainian POWs. However, the ICRC delegation did not arrive, and the mission, to the Olenivka detention camp, was scrapped.
The Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said the International Red Cross "has proved its inability and even unwillingness to manage Russia's compliance with humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention.”
He also said Ukraine failed to observe a willingness on behalf of the Red Cross to protect the rights of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages.
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