Call for Submissions by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
Vienna (24 May 2024) - The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine invites individuals, groups and organizations to submit information and documentation relevant to its third mandate.
The Commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2022 to investigate violations and abuses of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law, and related crimes in the context of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine. In April 2024 its mandate was renewed with one additional year.
The tasks of the Commission are to submit:
- a report to the General Assembly at its 79th session in October 2024
and - a comprehensive report to the Human Rights Council at its 58th session in March 2025.
We are interested to hear directly from survivors, their relatives and witnesses who can share information about:
- Torture and sexual and gender-based violence, against all persons, regardless of age and gender. In this context, we are interested to further understand how detention facilities, where torture was recurrent, were organized and which forces/services committed torture or gave orders to this effect.
- The impact on civilians, both immediate and long-term, of the attacks on energy infrastructure, in particular concerning health and education.
The Commission attaches the utmost importance to the protection of sources, notably concerning the respect for confidentiality and the ‘do no harm’ principle (not to jeopardize the life, safety, freedom and well-being of victims, witnesses and other cooperating persons). It will only disclose the identity of cooperating persons if there is an informed consent from them and will use the information provided in accordance with their stated wishes.
Furthermore, the Commission takes all possible measures to ensure protection of information, including through the use of appropriate information communication technologies.
It should be noted that not all information sent to the Commission will necessarily be reflected in the reports.
In order to preserve the security and confidentiality of the information submitted, it is recommended to submit through the specific email address created by the Commission for this purpose: ohchr-submission-coiukraine@un.org Should you have any questions, including on how to submit information in a different way, please contact the Commission at: coi-ukraine@un.org
You are invited to submit your information before 1 August 2024.