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<p>The OSCE Moscow Mechanism is one of the generally little-known mechanisms, established in 1991 to facilitate resolution of a particular question or problem relating to the human dimension of the OSCE. This article aims to highlight its role and significant potential to identify relevant patterns of behaviour supported by collected information and evidence on violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in situations that need urgent attention by the international community. Its flexibility and short reactionary time serves to promptly document developments and make them publicly available to inform further actions. At the same time, the mechanism in practice encounters a number of challenges, such as lack of cooperation from the States “under investigation”, very short missions’ deadlines for submission of their findings and rather limited (technical) support by the designated OSCE Institution, the ODIHR. This article discusses the mechanism as such and then looks into the two of its reports from 2022 concerning the situation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and their impact within the OSCE and beyond. It provides some general conclusions and suggestions on possible improvements of the mechanism going forward.</p>
</abstract>

The OSCE Moscow Mechanism is one of the generally little-known mechanisms, established in 1991 to facilitate resolution of a particular question or problem relating to the human dimension of the OSCE. This article aims to highlight its role and significant potential to identify relevant patterns of behaviour supported by collected information and evidence on violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in situations that need urgent attention by the international community. Its flexibility and short reactionary time serves to promptly document developments and make them publicly available to inform further actions. At the same time, the mechanism in practice encounters a number of challenges, such as lack of cooperation from the States “under investigation”, very short missions’ deadlines for submission of their findings and rather limited (technical) support by the designated OSCE Institution, the ODIHR. This article discusses the mechanism as such and then looks into the two of its reports from 2022 concerning the situation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and their impact within the OSCE and beyond. It provides some general conclusions and suggestions on possible improvements of the mechanism going forward.

The Role and Impact of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism Reports Following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

International and Comparative Law Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The OSCE Moscow Mechanism is one of the generally little-known mechanisms, established in 1991 to facilitate resolution of a particular question or problem...

The Role and Impact of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism Reports Following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Published Online: Oct 13, 2023

Page range: 210 - 227

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/iclr-2023-0009

Keywords
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Moscow Mechanism, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, war crimes, crimes against humanity, accountability, Ukraine, Russian Federation

© 2023 Vasilka Sancin, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Role and Impact of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism Reports Following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Published Online: Oct 13, 2023

Page range: 210 - 227

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/iclr-2023-0009

KeywordsOrganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Moscow Mechanism, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, war crimes, crimes against humanity, accountability, Ukraine, Russian Federation

© 2023 Vasilka Sancin, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Moscow Mechanism, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, war crimes, crimes against humanity, accountability, Ukraine, Russian Federation