The error of Amnesty International’s report on Ukraine is that it fails to understand the basics of contemporary warfare. The Geneva Conventions which include the International Humanitarian Law were written in 1949 when conventional warfare was still conducted on open terrain. Today, modern war is being fought in urban centres and asking Ukraine to conduct a conventional open-air war is literally asking Ukrainians to lose the war.
Even if technically, Amnesty International’s report makes a reasonable case, its main problem is that it plays into the hands of Russian propaganda, and indeed the report has been celebrated pompously by the Russian authorities. Russia has also been confirmed to have bombed hospitals and medical installations in Syria which were not used as military bases.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister is right in condemning the report for creating a false reality where there is no truthful balance in the relationship between the victim and the aggressor. Amnesty International is expressing positions loaded with cogitative dissonance. There can’t be a neutral position with regards to this war given it is a clear act of aggression from one side. The Secretary General of the organisation, Agnes Callamard seems to think in her delusion that criticism of her report is coming from “Ukrainian trolls”, when in fact it’s only Russia that’s celebrating the report. It is interesting to note, as well, that Amnesty International had previously revoked Alexei Navalny’s status as a “prisoner of conscience”, apparently, for alleged racist comments he made 15 years prior.
Surely, Amnesty International’s report has dealt a huge blow to its reputation while it continued to expose the farcical-armchair ignorance of fraudulent academics.
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