KYIV, UKRAINE – The head of Amnesty International’s Ukraine section has resigned, saying the human rights organization has dismissed its opposition to the publication of a report claiming Ukrainian forces exposed civilians to Russian attacks based in populated areas.
In a statement posted Friday evening on Facebook, Oksana Pokalchuk accused her former employer of ignoring the realities of the war in Ukraine and the concerns of local staff members who lobbied for the report to be reworked.
The report, released on Thursday, drew furious denunciations from senior Ukrainian officials and criticism from Western diplomats, who accused the authors of making vague claims that appeared to equate the Ukrainian military’s defensive actions with tactics of the Russian invaders.
“It’s painful to admit, but I and the leadership of Amnesty International are divided on values,” Pokalchuk wrote. “I believe that any work done for the good of society must take into account the local context and think about the consequences.”
Russia has repeatedly justified attacks on civilian areas by alleging that Ukrainian fighters set up firing positions at targeted locations.
Pokalchuk said his office had asked the organization’s leadership to give Ukraine’s Defense Ministry enough time to respond to the report’s findings and argued that its failure to do so would bolster disinformation and propaganda efforts. of the Kremlin.
“I am convinced that our investigations must be carried out thoroughly, keeping in mind the people whose lives often depend directly on the words and actions of international organisations,” she said.
In a press release accompanying the release of the report, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said the organization had “documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces endangering civilians and violating the laws of war when operating in populated areas”.
“Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law,” she said on Thursday.
Russian state-sponsored media cited the report to support Moscow’s claim that Russia only launched strikes on military targets during the war. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson cited Amnesty International’s claims as evidence that Ukraine was using civilians as human shields.
Several Western scholars of international and military law have taken to social media to dismiss the Human Shield claim. They said the report contained poor wording that blurred legal distinctions and ignored combat conditions in Ukraine.
United Nations war crimes investigator Marc Garlasco tweeted in a personal capacity on Friday, accused Amnesty International of “mistaking the law” and said Ukraine was taking steps to protect civilians, including helping them to resettle.
Ukrainian authorities at national and regional levels have repeatedly urged residents of frontline areas to evacuate, although tens of thousands of people who have left their homes since the Russian invasion have returned after running out of support or feel unwelcome.
Ukraine’s leaders, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country’s foreign and defense ministers, have been scathing in their condemnation of the report, which they say failed to provide context about Russian bombings of populated areas. and documented attacks on civilians.
Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty, posted a tweet on Friday that defended the organization’s work and took aim at its critics.
“Ukrainian and Russian mobs and trolls on social media: they are all here today to attack Amnesty investigations. This is called war propaganda, disinformation, misinformation This does not undermine our impartiality and will not change the facts,” she wrote.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded angrily to Callamard in which he accused his organization of “false neutrality” and playing into the Kremlin’s hands.
“Apparently the secretary general of Amnesty calls me a ‘mob’ and a ‘troll’, but that won’t stop me from saying that his report distorts reality, establishes a false moral equivalence between aggressor and victim, and bolsters Russia’s disinformation effort. . This is false ‘neutrality’, not truthfulness,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
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