Ukraine appoints three experts following invocation of the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism

On 30 March 2023 and following consultation with Ukraine, 45 OSCE participating States invoked the Moscow Mechanism in order to “address the Deportation of Children amidst Human Rights Violations and Humanitarian Impacts of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”. More specifically, the tasks of the mission of experts will include those outlined below.*

Ukraine has now selected three people from the list of experts to be part of the mission.

The Moscow Mechanism, last invoked on 23 March 2023 in relation to Belarus, provides the opportunity for participating States to send missions of experts to assist in the resolution of a particular question or problem relating to the human dimension, which entails the commitments made by participating States on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Further information is available here.

In relation to Ukraine, the Moscow Mechanism was last invoked by 45 participating States following consultations with Ukraine in June 2022 to “consider, follow up and build upon the findings of the Moscow Mechanism report received by OSCE participating States on 12 April”, addressing “the human rights and humanitarian impacts of the Russian Federation’s invasion and acts of war, supported by Belarus, on the people of Ukraine, within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and territorial waters”.

Any information relevant to the work of the Moscow Mechanism can be sent to the following email address no later than 21 April 2023: moscowmechanism-Ukraine2023@odihr.pl. This will be forwarded to the expert mission.

The 45 countries that have invoked the Moscow Mechanism on this occasion are: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

*“build upon previous findings and establish the facts and circumstances surrounding possible contraventions of relevant OSCE commitments, violations and abuses of human rights, and violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as well as possible cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity, associated with or resulting from the forcible transfer of children within parts of Ukraine’s territory temporarily controlled or occupied by Russia and/or their deportation to the Russian Federation; and to collect, consolidate, and analyze this information with a view to offer recommendations, as well as provide the information to relevant accountability mechanisms, as well as national, regional, or international courts or tribunals that have, or may in future have, jurisdiction”.