Human Rights in Russia: Third Appeal to the OSCE Moscow Mechanism Since the Outbreak of War in Ukraine

The OSCE Moscow Mechanism was recently requested by 38 states, including Austria, to appoint an OSCE expert to review the human rights situation in Russia. Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, the Moscow Mechanism has already been contacted three times.

This is the third call to the Moscow Mechanism since the start of the war in Ukraine, after the first two calls focused on Russian warfare and documentation of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses by Russian forces in Ukraine.

The appeal was submitted by Iceland's Ambassador to Vienna, Kristín A. Árnadóttir, on behalf of the 38 OSCE states.

The latest appeal is intended as a response to recent measures imposed by the Russian government, which authorised the authorities to impose massive restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association in Russia, as well as reports of torture and other ill-treatment of citizens of the Russian Federation and others detained in Russia.

The expert mission will be tasked with assessing whether Russia is in breach of its OSCE human dimension commitments and how the Russian government's actions have affected civil society, media freedom, the rule of law and the functioning of democratic processes and institutions in Russia.

This mission will produce a report that will be made available to all OSCE participating States and the public in September. The United States and our allies and partners will continue to hold the Russian government accountable for human rights violations and abuses.

The text of the allegations against Russia reads, "Numerous laws enacted in the Russian Federation in recent years, such as. the law on 'foreign agents', the regulation of so-called 'undesirable' organisations, as well as numerous decrees of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) and individual administrative decisions, have been used by the Russian authorities to target independent civil society, independent media and political opposition, in particular targeting non-governmental organisations, anti-corruption campaigners, human rights activists, journalists, other media actors, researchers and lawyers."

During the invasion of Ukraine, he said, freedom of expression, already suppressed, has been further curtailed and opposition is non-existent. Furthermore, both freedom of assembly and association have suffered severe restrictions.

According to a statement issued by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media on 16 March 2022, "the Russian Federation is rapidly moving towards a situation of complete censorship and isolation of its citizens from any form of independent information."

The following states supported the motion: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and The United States.

About the Moscow Mechanism

The Moscow Mechanism, adopted at the third stage of the 1991 Conference on the Human Dimension, complements and strengthens the Vienna Mechanism. It offers the possibility of sending expert missions to assist participating States in resolving a particular human dimension issue or problem.

OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe