In framework of cooperation with UN bodies our Association sent submission to the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realization of human rights, regarding the Council’s resolution 55/10. The Advisory Committee, composed of 18 experts, has been established to function as a think-tank for the Council and work at its direction, and a relevant report on the impact of disinformation will be presented to the Council at its 61st session.
ARC’s sbmission, published by Advisory Committee now, strressed that interstate conflicts and relevant hostilities almost always are the subject of disinformation campaigns, but Russia-generated war propaganda now has the totalitarian dimension and is not a tool of war only, but a form of mass human rights’ violation, of “rehabilitation” of Russia-committed war crimes, aggression and genocide.
ARC’s submission pointed that Russian propaganda has its goal to dehumanize Ukrainian simplifying for Russian troops and mercenaries to commit war crimes and reminded to efforts of our Association with collaboration to UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, reflected in reports, since A/HRC/50/61, 2022 that Russia criminally used numerous “justifications” for its military aggression against Ukraine, in particular the alleged “need to deNazify Ukraine”.
ARC’s submission reminded on relevant amendments to UN General Assembly resolutions 77/204, 2022, 78/190, 2023 and 79/160, 2024, where Assembly “notes with alarm that the Russian Federation has sought to justify its territorial aggression against Ukraine on the purported basis of eliminating neo-Nazism, and underlines that the pretextual use of neo-Nazism to justify territorial aggression seriously undermines genuine attempts to combat neo-Nazism.”
ARC’s submission stressed, that negative impact of Russia’s war propaganda on the civil population’s human rights in Ukraine makes the Russian state informational sources, mechanisms and policies similar to informational agenda of terroristic organization, as such war propaganda has the genocidal features and direct goal to eliminate all fundamental rights of Ukrainians, including their right to life.
Also ARC’s submission reminded that Russia’s war propaganda is connected with crimes against collective rights and sustainable development, with relevant examples of Russia-disseminated fakes about destruction the dam of Kakhovka HPP in, 2023 and catastrophe with the Russian tankers “Volgoneft-212” and “Volgoneft-239”, near Kerch Strait on December 2024.
Also, as counteraction to Russian propaganda and Russia-related “criminal cases”, initiated by collaborators, such as Vladimir Konstantinov, and Yefim Fiks, proceeding on moral damage in Ukrainian jurisdiction were notices, such as cases 521/11949/24 and 758/978/20.
Ukraine’s statement to the Advisory Committee regarding those challenges, stressed that in the temporarily occupied territories, Russia is actively spreading its propaganda, including disinformation about Ukraine and its political leadership, as well as the promotion of the idea of the ‘Russian world’.
Ukraine’s statement added that Russian disinformation is one of the most powerful tools in the hybrid war against Ukraine. It seeks not only to undermine the morale of the population, but also to discredit Ukraine internationally, exacerbate internal conflicts and weaken the country’s ability to effectively defend itself.
