The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights concluded a two-day high-level meeting in Warsaw today. The closed-door meeting focused on embedding human rights and dignity at the very heart of pathways to a just and sustainable peace for Ukraine.
The Commissioner convened senior experts from governments, international organisations, and civil society. The meeting took place while Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues to cause immense human suffering, underscoring the urgent necessity of this work.
Human rights as the foundation for peace
The Commissioner’s July 2025 Memorandum on human rights elements for peace in Ukraine, which sets out ten core human rights elements for achieving a just, lasting, and effective peace, that fully respects human dignity, served as a catalyst for the meeting.
“True peace is not merely the absence of war, but a state in which people can live with dignity, anchored in the international human rights framework. Conflict resolution and human rights must be viewed as complementary and mutually reinforcing”, stated the Commissioner.
Key areas of focus
Discussions focused on building momentum for action across three essential areas.
The Commissioner’s preliminary takeaways include:
- On groups calling for specific attention: the need to sustainably protect the rights of those most affected, including victims, refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), prisoners of war, civilian detainees, unlawfully transferred Ukrainian children and people living in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia. This includes the release of all prisoners of war and all civilian detainees, the search for missing persons, and the unconditional return of all unlawfully transferred Ukrainian children.
- Actors for peace and human rights: there should be meaningful inclusion of women and a gender perspective at all stages of the peace process. In addition, multilateral organisations, as well as national and international actors (including grassroots organisations) play a vital role in peace and recovery.
- Key processes for engagement: mechanisms for accountability and reparations for all victims of Russia’s aggression (since 2014) must form a central part of any peace and are essential to a sustainable reconstruction and recovery. Furthermore, to ensure a sustainable, human rightsbased, victim-centred recovery, Ukraine’s human rights commitments within the EU accession process must be integrated with reconstruction and peace efforts.
A call for human rights centred pathways to peace
The Commissioner reaffirmed that the priority remains to silence the weapons. In order to secure a just and sustainable peace, the ambition must be to safeguard a future that fully respects of human rights and dignity of the Ukrainian people.
"The human rights framework is the most reliable foundation for a just and sustainable peace. The pathways identified provide a roadmap for anchoring human rights at the core of all future negotiations and reconstruction efforts."
The Commissioner will circulate a report summarising the key insights and conclusions of the two-day meeting, which will be made public to drive further action.
*This meeting is being held under the Commissioner’s independent mandate on the basis of his memorandum on human rights elements for peace in Ukraine (July 2025) and as such does not aim to engage the policy of the Council of Europe as regards its Action Plan for Ukraine and the establishment of accountability mechanisms.