Any Peace Deal for Ukraine Must Not Surrender Human Rights

Brian Dooley and Suchita Uppal

As President Zelenskyy prepares to meet with President Trump to finalize an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine, we should realise what happens next isn’t just crucial for Ukraine, or for Europe, but for the future of the world order.

If human rights are forgotten or bargained away in a deal, and if justice, reparations, and the rights of civilians are left out, we will see the most violent crimes rewarded.

The lesson will be that a state can invade another, capture territory, kill and torture civilians, commit widespread war crimes, and remove children from the places it has occupied, and that if it hangs on long enough, it gets to keep what it took. International standards and protections crafted since the end of the Second World War will be pushed aside. This will be the era of bullies taking what they want, without consequences.

The leaked 28-point draft of the peace deal triggered immediate backlash for demanding sweeping concessions from Ukraine, including blanket amnesty for Russian war crimes. That version has reportedly been revised. According to Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, a new 19-point text has taken out the blanket amnesty. But now, the deal-making begins. If this amnesty and other ways to avoid accountability find their way back in the final text, our world will change.

Accountability for Russian war crimes has already failed once. In 2014, following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, hundreds were abducted, tortured, and disappeared. Russian authorities handed out medals to paramilitary thugs responsible. No one was punished.

As of November 2025, Ukrainian authorities  have registered over 180,000 possible war crimes and identified more than 500 perpetrators. At least 1,029 Russian soldiers have been charged with war crimes, 747 indictments have been sent to court, and 206 persons have been convicted.  Many more should be prosecuted. These should not be sacrificed as part of any negotiations, nor should other countries - including the United States, Finland and Germany - who have investigated or prosecuted those suspected of war crimes in Ukraine abandon such cases.

The International Criminal Court should not be pressured to drop its cases against President Vladimir Putin and the other Russian officials it has indicted for their crimes against Ukraine. Human rights organizations, the UN, and Ukrainian civil society are united in agreement that no settlement can legitimize or overlook the abduction of Ukrainian children. Until conditions in Ukraine are safe for return, and they are not now, no one should be forcibly sent back there from another country.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty has been unequivocal that any peace process must be anchored in justice, not political compromise. Accountability for war crimes, meaningful reparations, the return of POWs, civilian detainees, and abducted children, and guaranteed human rights protections in occupied areas must form the core of negotiations. Inclusion of civil society actors, including women, should be central to the peace process. As O’Flaherty warned, “Ignoring human rights today means undermining peace tomorrow. If the suffering of people and their quest for justice is ignored, any agreement is likely to prove fragile.” Earlier this month, he convened a meeting of 35 officials to discuss how these issues could be practically addressed, and a report is expected soon. 

A final text of the deal has yet to emerge, and there are still no guarantees that human rights will be protected.

Zelenskyy’s domestic authority is weak following months of corruption scandals - first over his attempt to curb the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, and now over a sweeping $100 million procurement scandal that triggered ministerial dismissals and a parliamentary revolt.

We at Human Rights First have visited Ukraine dozens of times since the February 2022 invasion, and spoken to people in its major cities across the country. Most of our time there has been working close to the front line in the far east of country. We’ve helped evacuated vulnerable civilians from villages under fire, such as Selydove in the Donetsk region. Since we were last there it has been occupied by Russian troops.

What will be the message to Selydove and thousands of other similar communities in Ukraine if a peace deal confirms Russia’s occupation? It’s that no matter what international law says, no matter what states promise at the United Nations, no matter what treaties they’ve signed up to, in the end if their army takes over your village, they get to keep it.