EU Statement - HRC60 - Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the Russian Federation
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
60th Session
Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the Russian Federation
22 September 2025
EU Statement
Mr. President,
The EU thanks the Special Rapporteur for her report that sheds light on the deteriorating human rights situation in Russia.
The EU is concerned about the findings outlined in the report, that torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are used as a state-sanctioned tools for oppression in Russia.
We call on Russia to abolish its repressive legislation and align it with international human rights law, to ensure a safe and enabling online and offline environment for all and to comply with their human rights obligations, including those arising from the ICCPR.
Russia must ensure safeguards and their effective implementation against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment and sexual and gender-based violence.
We reiterate our strong call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained, including political prisoners, human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists.
The EU calls on Russia to end its political misuse of the judiciary and law enforcement. We strongly condemn Russia for the criminal prosecution of lawyers for performing their professional duties.
The EU expresses its deep concern about the closed civic space, including the continuing systematic crackdown on civil society, human rights defenders, lawyers, independent media, journalists, democratic political opposition, LGBTI persons, Indigenous Peoples, persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and citizens with dissenting voices in Russia.
Russia must ensure accountability for all human rights violations and end discrimination on all grounds, with specific attention to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
The EU calls on Russia to cooperate fully with the UN, including special procedures and investigative mechanism, and to fully implement all outstanding rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and abide by the judgment on the responsibility for the downing of Flight MH17.
We are concerned that the outlined, systematic human rights violations are part of a government strategy to control all spheres of life, and to suppress dissent towards its aggressive foreign policy of waging war.
The EU calls on Russia to immediately stop its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law on Ukrainian territory, including the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine.
Madam Special Rapporteur,
Your report details horrific cases of torture in detention, including of PoWs and civilian detainees. What further avenues do you see for ensuring accountability for these heinous crimes?