OSCE – Invocation of the Moscow Mechanism (24 July 2025)

On July 24, France joined 40 other OSCE participating States in invoking the organization’s Moscow Mechanism, which is aimed at investigating the human rights situation in participating States.

They did so in order to investigate the Russian Federation’s treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war. For more than three years now, Russia has waged a war of aggression against Ukraine in violation of international law, the founding principles of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OECD), and its international human rights commitments. Russia’s severe, widespread, systematic violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law have already been established in several reports, notably by the OECD’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.

In the face of these intolerable acts, France solemnly reaffirms its determination to combat any form of impunity. The invocation of this mechanism will enable a panel of independent experts to gather evidence and to document and report the facts.

France notes that OSCE participating States have pledged to abide by international humanitarian law, particularly the obligations arising from the Third Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, and emphasizes that the use of torture is totally banned under international law.

France will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people and to support the critical work of international courts in ensuring that those responsible for all the crimes committed in Ukraine are held accountable. It will be sure to study the results of the independent report with interest.