Ukraine war: Russia revokes registration of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
- Russia’s justice ministry said the non-governmental organisations violated the current legislation of the Russian Federation
- Both groups have been critical of Russia’s actions of a ‘special military operation’ to demilitarise and denazify’ Ukraine
Russia’s justice ministry said on Friday it had revoked the registration of 15 foreign organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The Russian units of the organisations, which also included the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “were excluded due to the discovery of violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in a statement.
The decision, which did not give details of any violations, was announced days after New York-based HRW said it had found “several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations” in Ukraine.
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“The authorities are deeply mistaken if they believe that by closing down our office in Moscow they will stop our work documenting and exposing human rights violations,” Secretary General Agnes Callamard said in a statement. “We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia’s egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad.”
Russian government officials did not immediately respond to questions about the closings. Both groups have been critical of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Human Rights Watch on Thursday applauded the United Nations’ decision to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council.
Russia has repeatedly denied war crimes allegations by Ukraine and Western countries during its six-week-long invasion of Ukraine and denies targeting civilians.
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“There is little doubt the move was in response to our reporting on the war in Ukraine,” HRW said.
“The Russian government had already made it abundantly clear that it has no use for any facts regarding the protection of civilians in Ukraine. This is just one small further proof of that,” it said on Twitter.
Russia says it is conducting a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. The Kyiv government and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an unjustified invasion.
Other organisations whose registration was revoked on Friday included a branch of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation and the Institute of International Education.
Nine German organisations were included as well as three from the United States, one from Britain, one from Poland and one from Switzerland.
UN General Assembly suspends Russia from top human rights body over Ukraine
Moscow’s moves comes days after the United Nations General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over its conduct in Ukraine, although dozens of nations abstained despite the Ukrainian ambassador’s pleadings to defend “the innocent lives lost” in the two-month war.
The rare move Thursday to suspend Russia was backed by 93 nations and opposed by 24. It’s the first time such an action was backed at the UN since Libya was suspended during the final months of Muammar Gaddafi’s rein in 2011.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
