Ukraine Crisis: US, UK & EU Form Advisory Group To Probe Atrocity Crimes

The Department of State will continue to work closely with the Department of Justice and other partners to support the pursuit of justice and accountability.

A city in Ukraine after numerous shelling by Russian forces

Source : Getty Images

New Delhi: The United States, along with the European Union and the United Kingdom, has formed an Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) in a bid to support the efforts of Ukraine’s war crime units, to probe and provide accountability for atrocity crimes. The aim of the joint initiative is to directly support the efforts of the War Crimes Units of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (OPG) to document, preserve, and analyse evidence of war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.

According to a statement issued by the office of Antony J. Blinken, US Secretary of State, with this initiative, the Department of State will continue to work closely with the Department of Justice and other partners to support the pursuit of justice and accountability.

“Evidence of atrocities by members of Russia’s forces in Ukraine continues to mount. Initially, this violence took the form of bombardments and missile and artillery strikes hitting densely-populated cities and towns, causing thousands of civilian deaths and destruction of civilian infrastructure,” the statement read.

“Later, when journalists, human rights defenders, and Ukrainian officials gained access to areas following the retreat of Russia’s forces, we saw reports of violence of a different order — credible reports of unarmed civilians shot in the back; individuals killed execution-style with their hands bound; bodies showing signs of torture; and horrific accounts of sexual violence against women and girls. Most recently, credible reports are emerging of Ukrainian children being forcibly transferred out of the country,” it added.

At this critical time, the ACA will provide strategic advice and operational assistance to the War Crimes Units of the OPG, the legally constituted authority responsible for prosecuting war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.

The ACA’s assistance would include expanded funding for the work of a multi-national team of international prosecutors, and other war crimes experts already deployed to the region. This team will be providing strategic advice and operational assistance in areas such as collection and preservation of evidence, military analysis, investigation of conflict-related sexual violence, and co-operation with international and national accountability mechanisms.

In this regard, the ACA will liaise with the Department of Justice as it pursues accountability in US courts, according to the statement.