1535th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council

1535th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council

Statement by Ms Georgia Lowe, Representative of the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations and International Organisations in Vienna 

25 September 2025

Thank you, Chair.

Australia thanks the three independent experts for this sobering report.

We are gravely concerned by findings of continued widespread and systematic use of torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance and summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees. These acts are abhorrent and demand accountability.

Australia condemns the Russian Federation’s human rights violations, including in the context of its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

Australia reiterates its profound concern at reports of Russia’s continued violations of international humanitarian law, including in relation to the treatment of Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war.

Russia’s contempt for international humanitarian law is seen in the terrible treatment of countless prisoners of war, including Australian national and Ukrainian prisoner of war Oscar Jenkins.

We continue to call on Russia to comply with its obligations under international law, including with respect to prisoners of war, and to immediately cease its aggression against Ukraine.

We also take this opportunity to join the calls by many for Russia to end its wrongful detention of OSCE officials Vadym Golda, Maxim Petrov, and Dmytro Shabanov.

We support the need to continue investigating any gross violations of international law by Russia, including with respect to Ukrainian prisoners of war. Russia must be held to account for any violations.

Thank you, Chair.