On Armistice Day, Colonel Joby Rimmer, UK Senior Military Advisor, rejects Russia's portrayal of Ukraine's armed forces as terrorists, sets out their protections under International Humanitarian Law, and condemns Russia's treatment and prosecution of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Thank you, Mr Chair. Today is Armistice Day, when we remember all those who lost their lives in conflict. Remembrance asks us to honour those who give their lives in defence of their country. We recognise their sacrifice and we do not dishonour them.
Yet in this Forum, we repeatedly hear Russia misrepresent Ukraine’s armed forces and last week it called support for Ukraine’s defence ‘financing of terrorism’. Ukraine’s servicemen and servicewomen are exercising their country’s inherent right of self-defence. They are not terrorists, and they should not be described as such.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a manifest violation of the UN Charter. Ukraine has an inherent right of self-defence under Article 51 of the Charter, and international law allows other states to support that defence. International Humanitarian Law governs the conduct of hostilities and applies to all parties. Attempting to label (or rebrand) Ukraine’s lawful defence of its own territory [against an aggressor] as terrorism does not alter the legal reality.
Members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are members of the regular Armed Forces of a State party to an international armed conflict. Under Article 43 of Additional Protocol I, members of such Armed Forces, other than medical personnel and Chaplains, are combatants and have the right to participate directly in hostilities. If captured, Article 4 of the 3rd Geneva Convention entitles them to prisoner-of-war status. They must be treated humanely and may not be persecuted merely for taking part in the conflict. Applying the label of terrorism does not remove their combatant or prisoner-of-war status and cannot justify denying them the protections of International Humanitarian Law.
The contrast in how the two sides of Russia’s illegal war treat those they capture is stark. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission has regular and unimpeded access to official internment facilities in Ukrainian-controlled territory. Yet Russia continues to deny independent monitors comparable access to Ukrainian POWs held in Russia and Russian-occupied areas. Of the 853 Ukrainian POWs interviewed by the Mission, more than 96%reported torture or ill-treatment in Russian captivity.
These abuses are compounded by unlawful prosecutions. In its March report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/61/61), the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that Russian courts, and courts in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, had prosecuted Ukrainian civilians and POWs on charges including terrorism. The Commission found these proceedings denied fundamental fair-trial guarantees and systematically relied on evidence fabricated or obtained through torture or ill-treatment. It concluded that the resulting grave breaches of international humanitarian law constituted war crimes.
Mr Chair, words matter, particularly when they are apparently used to obscure legal responsibility. Russia calls its war a ‘special military operation’ because it is seeking to deny the reality of an international armed conflict, and to disregard the protections owed to Ukrainian POWs under IHL and the Geneva Conventions. It cannot so do. The law applies according to facts.
The truth has particular resonance on this Day of Remembrance. We remember those who gave their lives in defence of their country and for the principles on which European security rests. Among them were the millions from across the Soviet Union, including Russians and Ukrainians, whose shared sacrifice contributed decisively to the defeat of Nazism. That sacrifice must be honoured, but it cannot be used to justify Russia’s aggression today.
The members of the UAF are today defending their country, their people against aggression. They are lawful combatants. They deserve our respect and recognition. Russia can end this war at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory. Until it does, the UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, in pursuit of a just and lasting peace. Thank you. Mr Chair.