Ukraine urged to respect the rights of prisoners of war

Human Rights Watch says Ukrainian authorities should stop posting on social media and messaging apps videos of captured Russian soldiers that expose them to public curiosity, “in particular those that show them being humiliated or intimidated”.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the main security arm of the Ukrainian government, has a Telegram account with about 868,000 subscribers where it has posted videos of captured Russian soldiers who appear under duress or are revealing their names, identification numbers, and other personal information, including their parents’ names and home addresses. It shares these videos on its Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram pages with roughly 978,000 combined followers and subscribers. A Telegram channel apparently run by the Internal Affairs Ministry with over 847,000 subscribers does the same and has an affiliated website and YouTube channel.

“The obligation to protect POWs from being objects of public curiosity, as well as protecting them from intimidation or humiliation, is part of the broader requirement to ensure their humane treatment and protect their families from harm,” said Aisling Reidy, Senior Legal Advisor at Human Rights Watch. “The Ukrainian authorities should stop posting these videos online.”

Social media platforms should also clarify whether and how videos of POWs that are incompatible with the Geneva Conventions fall under their existing policies and, if necessary, develop new policies to identify and suppress the spread of such content, Human Rights Watch said.