Kyiv, Ukraine — The Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, remains scarred by a direct hit this summer from a deadly Russian missile. Flowers and stuffed animals are piled in front of the front door. Repair work is underway in several damaged buildings. It was one of the most notorious Russian attacks on civilians, but only one of many.

“We have documented more than 78,000 episodes of war crimes,” said Alexandra Matviitchukwho runs the Civil Liberties Center. The Ukrainian group won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago for its work compiling Russian abuses.

These 78,000 cases have all been recorded since the full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022. Matviitchuk has been meeting victims since the first Russian invasion in 2014.

“I have personally interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people who have been beaten, raped. Their fingers have been cut, their nails have been ripped out. Their nails have been pierced. They have been electrocuted,” she said at the group’s office, a modest Soviet office. Vintage building in the center of kyiv, just a few kilometers from the children’s hospital.

“This is probably the most documented war in human history because we now have digital instruments that provide human rights groups with the opportunity to collect evidence and identify the perpetrators,” she said.

But the big challenge, she added, is to transform this mountain of evidence into a viable international system that holds perpetrators accountable.

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AFP via Getty Images

The Foundation of the Rules of War

THE Geneva Conventionswhich established the fundamental laws of war in the aftermath of World War II, celebrated its 75th anniversary in August.

“The Geneva Conventions created this fundamental idea that civilians should actually be protected from the worst harms of war,” said Oona Hathawayprofessor at Yale Law School who often writes about rules of war.

According to her, several current conflicts – Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Hamas, civil war in Sudan – are eroding decades of work aimed at preventing, or at least limiting, abuses.

“One can’t help but look around the world without worrying that these fundamental post-war innovations and achievements are being undermined,” she said. “We see that civilians are not only killed during war, but also targeted.”

For example, the International Committee of the Red Cross has long been able to visit prisoners of war to check their treatment.

However, the Red Cross was very limited in its ability to gather information on thousands of Ukrainians, soldiers and civilians, who were captured by Russia.

Additionally, Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross to visit the approximately 100 Israeli civilians and soldiers the group is holding hostage in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be in underground tunnels.

Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials in Gaza.

“The Israeli military’s disregard for the protection of civilians has deteriorated significantly over the past 20 years,” said Sari Bashi, the head of global research for Human Rights Watch. “They are simply authorizing massive bombings, with very heavy bombs, in urban areas where we know they will kill hundreds of children.”

Bashi, who has been documenting this conflict for two decades, is based in the West Bank and is a vocal critic of the way Israel and Hamas are waging the war.

“Hamas-led groups were able to kill more than 800 Israeli civilians on October 7 because it was planned at the top and executed at the bottom,” she explained. “That’s why Human Rights Watch called these attacks a crime against humanity.”

Hamas, designated a terrorist group by Israel and the West, says its attacks are aimed at defending Palestinian rights.

Israel says it does not target civilians, but confronts Hamas fighters who use Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Oona Hathaway says these scenarios – in which a state army fights a non-state group – often complicate humanitarian efforts.

“What we are seeing is a real change in the nature of war,” she said. “These groups of non-state actors have attempted to take advantage of the rules, sometimes using them to protect themselves from violence and placing themselves in or near schools or hospitals.”

A state army, like Israel, attacks these traditionally protected sites – although there may be rare exceptions.

“If it is used by militants, it can become a military objective,” she added.

While both sides use the rules to justify their actions, civilians are caught in the crossfire and humanitarian organizations are often unable to operate in this environment.

“These organizations suddenly find themselves caught between the two camps. On the one hand, they are used as a shield by one side, then are considered suspicious and potentially harbor fighters from the other side,” she said.

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AFP via Getty Images

Persistent attacks on civilians in Ukraine

The war between Russia and Ukraine is a war between states – a type of conflict rarely seen today.

Russia regularly strikes Ukrainian civilian targets and has also captured tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including many children.

“We know the names, we know the history and the journey of almost 20,000 Ukrainian children,” said Khrystyna Chkoudorwith the Ukrainian group Where are our people?which follows missing Ukrainian children.

Russia claims to “protect” children who lost their parents during the war. But Ukraine says Russia kidnapped the children, systematically erased their identities and raised them as Russians.

Shkudor cites the case of a boy, Ilya, aged 11. The Russians took him two years ago after his mother was killed during the Russian bombing of the city of Mariupol.

But later Ilya’s uncle saw the boy on Russian television. The Ukrainians were then able to locate him and ensure his return.

Shkudor said that when Ilya was in Russia, the Russians told him: “Ukraine does not need him and he will have a new happy life as a Russian citizen.” The Russians don’t need the Ukrainians. They need brainwashed Russian citizens. And they are trying to steal their Ukrainian roots. »

Ukraine says fewer than 1,000 of around 20,000 children have returned home.

Peter Dejong/AP/AP

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P.A.

Court attempts to prosecute leaders

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued a decision arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putinciting the expulsion of Ukrainian children.

At the same court, prosecutors are seeking arrest warrants for alleged war crimes committed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Prosecutors also sought to arrest three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who have since been killed by Israel.

These surviving leaders may never be arrested. But Sari Bashi says even the threat of arrest can isolate them internationally.

“Putin was unable to attend meetings in South Africa or Brazil because he was afraid of being arrested,” she said. “That would be huge, because it would remove some of the normalization of people committing war crimes.”

However, Putin recently hosted an international economic conference in Russia attended by more than 30 countries, including the leaders of more than 20 nations.

Meanwhile, Ukraine pursued some low-ranking Russian soldiers.

Olexandra Matviichuk believes that this is just one of many approaches that should be taken. Victims, she said, are often looking for different things.

“For some people, justice means seeing the guilty behind bars,” she said. “For others, justice means getting compensation. And for others, justice means having the opportunity to know the truth, what happened to their loved ones.”

Too often, she says, justice never comes, in any form.

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