“People first!” campaign calls to free the captives of Russia’s invasion
Members of the Platform of Anti-War Initiatives, alongside other international, Ukrainian and Russian civil society organizations, support the international campaign People First! to advocate for the release of captives held as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
With President Donald Trump set to initiate some form of peace negotiations on Ukraine this year, the coalition of human rights organisations, led by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Centre For Civil Liberties (Ukraine) and Memorial (Russia) are launching the PEOPLE FIRST! campaign.
Our call is simple: put people first. The key priority of any negotiated agreement must be the release of all captives of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Among them:
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians held by the Russian state
Thousands of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war held by both sides
At least 20,000 of children forcibly transferred or deported to Russia
Hundreds of Russian political prisoners held behind bars for protests against the war (For more details see the campaign background note)
We demand that:
In accordance with international law, all Ukrainian civilians captured and illegally detained by Russian forces, including those sentenced by Russian courts, be released and allowed to return home immediately and unconditionally. Those whose homes are in Russian-controlled areas, should be given the opportunity to leave for Ukrainian government-controlled areas of the country should they wish to do so.
All illegally transferred or deported children be returned.
All efforts are made to repatriate POWs, through exchanges or otherwise, as soon as possible, and no later than at the end of active hostilities as required by the Geneva Conventions.
Russian political prisoners already sentenced to prison terms or awaiting sentences in connection to their antiwar statements and actions be released
and should face no limits on their freedom of movement, including to travel abroad if they wish to do so.
A special independent international mechanism is established to facilitate these processes, monitor their compliance with international humanitarian law, and ensure regular, transparent reporting on progress, including updates on the release of prisoners and adherence to humanitarian standards.
Russia must provide immediate full access to all the captives and all illegally transferred or deported children for the UN agencies and ICRC.
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Ukrainian human rights lawyer in the lead of the Center for Civil Liberties, the 2022 Nobel Prize for Peace laureate, said:
“In the years of the war, I have spoken to many survivors of the Russian captivity who told me how they and other captives were beaten, tortured with electric shocks, and raped. They told about having their nails torn out, their kneecaps shuttered. They described how they had been deprived of food and sleep and how the dying had no access to medical assistance. Freeing all the unlawfully detained and exchanging all the prisoners of war should be an absolute priority. The captives may not last long enough to see the end of the war”.
Oleg Orlov, Co-Chair of the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center, former political prisoner and the 2022 Nobel Prize for Peace laureate, said:
“The terrible scourge of war has already affected tens of millions of people. Lives taken by war, cannot be recovered. It is all the more important to rectify what can be rectified. First and foremost, this means returning freedom to those who are in captivity because of the war. People, their freedom should be the priority of any negotiations”.
