On August 4, Amnesty International published a notorious report alleging Ukraine uses fighting tactics that endanger civilians and, thus, pushing the blame from the aggressor state to the country desperately defending every inch of its territory. The publication immediately faced harsh criticism from the Ukrainian government, journalists, and human rights organizations.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called out Amnesty International for creating a “false balance between the criminal and the victim,” and Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov called the report “out of touch with reality and a way to destroy the authority” of the organization.
Many experts have criticized Amnesty’s lack of understanding of the military situation and aiding the Kremlin propaganda. It is not the first time Amnesty International falls under criticism from Ukraine. Such was the case with the manipulative reports on illegal detention places in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions prepared in 2015-2016, disproportionately covering the cases of forced disappearances perpetrated by the Ukrainian special forces and Russian proxies.
Overall, the role of international human rights organizations in the Russia-Ukraine war has been highly controversial, and often dangerous for Ukraine, considering how Russia exploits these organizations’ reports to justify its war crimes. Speakers: Oleksandr Pavlichenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union Eleonora Mongelli, the Vice President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights
