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After an appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Dutch parliament, Dutch lawmakers asked to speed up the implementation of sanctions against Russia, as the country was shamefully behind other countries in freezing targeted assets. Approximately 27 billion euros in Russian assets were registered in the Netherlands, often in shell companies.

Source: Reuters

On 6th April 2022, the General Assembly of the U.N. voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council. For a country to be suspended from the HRC, a vote of two-thirds of the assembly members is required. In the case of Russia, 93 member states voted in favour of a resolution to suspend Russia, 24 voted against, and 58 abstained.

Source: nationalreview.com

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced he plans to create a special justice mechanism in Ukraine “to investigate and prosecute every crime of the occupiers on the territory of our state”. This mechanism will be based on the joint work of national and international specialists, such as investigators, prosecutors, and judges.

Source: Interfax

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has promised to offer Ukrainian President Zelenskiy a speedier start to Ukraine's request to become a member of the European Union. Talking about a questionnaire she gave to Zelenskiy to decide on Ukraine's membership she added that "It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion, but I think a matter of weeks” and that “Ukraine is marching towards the European future”.

Source: Reuters

Russia has recently revoked the registration of 15 foreign organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), due to "violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation". HRW has been operating in Russia for 30 years, while AI has had a presence in the country since 1993. Human Rights Watch promised it will continue to work in Russia. Amnesty’s secretary-general said they will redouble “efforts to expose Russia's egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad”.

Source: RFE/RL

After nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, won a fourth victory in parliamentary elections, the European Commission launched the new rule-of-law disciplinary procedure against Hungary. It aims to prevent the misuse of EU funds by countries backsliding on the rule of law and failing to meet democratic standards. This decision could make it harder for Hungary to borrow money.

Source: The Guardian

Three Russian pilots suspected of bombing civilian buildings in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions are among at least seven Russian military personnel that Kyiv is preparing war crimes charges against.

Source: Reuters

The House overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow President Biden to use a World War II-era law to quickly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan, sending the measure to Mr. Biden’s desk hours after he urged Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars’ worth of additional emergency aid for Kyiv.

Source: The New York Times