Gender dimension of war crimes: legal analysis of violations of the rights of Ukrainian women in Russian captivity

Abstract

The article examines violations of the rights of Ukrainian women in Russian captivity during the Russian-Ukrainian war. It was noted that in the period 2014-2022, prisoners of war were officially recognized as persons held by illegal armed formations, which complicated the use Problematic due to the lack of a relevant international prosecution mechanism, the complexity of identification of the perpetrators, granting them citizenship of the Russian Federation and political obstacles in litigation. It is emphasized that after a full -scale invasion of the Russian Federation, 24.02.2022, the hybrid war gained the status of international armed conflict, which allowed to properly apply the rules of international humanitarian law against prisoners of war and begin the process of prosecution for military crimes against them. It is determined that the evolution of international humanitarian law in the field of protection of prisoners of war has undergone three stages: the initial formation of norms in the Hague Conventions (1899, 1907), the consolidation of comprehensive protection in the Geneva Conventions (1929, 1949) and their expansion to non -international conflicts. that women in the face of armed conflicts require special legal protection because of the increased risk of gender -conditioned violence and specific physiological, medical and psychological needs, which is confirmed by a number of international documents.It was stated that during the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Russian and pro-Russian forces used various formal justifications for the seizure of women, accusing them of war crimes, participation in illegal armed formations, espionage or cooperation with Ukrainian structures depending on their status (military personnel, civilians or persons without a clearly defined status), which aimed not only at maintaining them, but also of political pressure on Ukraine. It has been summarized that the maintenance of women in Russian captivity violates international humanitarian law, since both prisoners of war and civilians suffer from systematic torture and compulsory measures that create unsuitable conditions of detention, qualify as a military crime and should be subject to international justice.