Напрямок: War crimes in the ATO area

The campaign aims to protect human rights and freedoms in the ATO area, particularly in the occupied territories by self-proclaimed so called “people’s republics”.

Statement of Human Rights Organizations Regarding Conviction of Crimean Activist Bohdan Ziza

On June 6, 2023, the Southern Area Military Court of Rostov-na-Donu sentenced Mr.Bohdan Ziza, a Ukrainian citizen and a Crimean Activist, to 15 years in custody on charges that included, inter alia, committing a terrorist act, vandalism, and intentionally destroying or damaging someone else’s property by arson. Making his last statement before being sentenced, Mr.Ziza announced a hunger strike and quoted the lyrics “KRYLA” (Wings) song by Artem Loik: “I am not red! I’m a Bahrianyy! I don’t rhyme for parterre! And these are not rhymes, these are wounds! But I’m not a Mel’nyk! I’m a Bandera!”

Political prisoner Mr.Bohdan Ziza, citizen of Ukraine

Bohdan Ziza was arrested on May 17, 2022, for having spilled yellow and blue paint on the entrance to the Yevpatoriya ‘occupational administration’ building on the night of May 16, 2022, as an expression of his anti-war civil position. After his arrest, a video was disseminated on the Internet, with the detained confessing to the crime committed. However, he was then subjected to physical and psychological violence, and his lawyer’s activity was hindered. Bohdan Ziza mentioned that Aleksandr Lavrov, an investigator of the FSB Crimean Department, beat him during the investigation, threatened him with unbearable conditions in the pre-trial detention center and described what would happen to the artist when he was placed in custody. Since May 18, Mr.Ziza had been kept in detention in Crimea, and then, in violation of international humanitarian law, he was convoyed to Rostov-na-Donu in the Russian Federation.

 We, representatives of human rights organizations, condemn criminal actions of representatives of the Crimean occupational administration and the Russian authorities, and demand:

  •         to release immediately political prisoner Mr.Bohdan Ziza, citizen of Ukraine;
  •         to release immediately all other political prisoners and civilian hostages who are being held in places of unfreedom in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, other occupied territories of Ukraine or in the territory of the Russian Federation;
  •         to stop persecuting the Crimeans for their disagreement with the occupation, expression of their views, religion, and other non-violent activity;
  •         to stop immediately enforcing the criminal laws of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in accordance with the international humanitarian law.

 We call on the competent bodies of the Ukrainian power:

–        to investigate effectively the circumstances of the unlawful confinement and deprivation of Mr.Bohdan Ziza, citizen of Ukraine, of the right of fair trial, and launch criminal proceedings due to the crime committed against him as stated in Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;

–        to investigate effectively facts of unlawful confinement and other gross breaches of the fundamental human rights in the temporarily occupied Crimea;

–        to report timely gross breaches of the human rights in the occupied Crimea both nationally and internationally.

 

We address governments of international powers and international organizations, including the International Crimea Platform members, with the request:

  • to hold international consultations aimed at finding instruments to release unlawfully confined and to monitor their health condition in the territory of the Russian Federation and occupied territories of Ukraine;
  •         to impose personal sanctions on the persons involved in the unlawful confinement and deprivation of Mr.Bohdan Ziza, citizen of Ukraine, of the right of fair trial;
  • to strengthen diplomatic, sanction, and other types of pressure on Russia to prevent new atrocities in the occupied Crimea and other occupied territories of Ukraine, and to accelerate the de-occupation of all territories of Ukraine;
  • to support the Government of Ukraine in investigating war crimes, crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights in the occupied Crimea and other occupied territories;
  • to maximize the use of International Crimea Platform, the procedures of the UN, Council of Europe, OSCE, other international organizations aimed at speeding up the release of the Crimean political prisoners, civilian hostages in the occupied territories, responding effectively on human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, and promoting the de-occupation of all territories of Ukraine;
  • to further increase comprehensive, including military, support of Ukraine aimed at de-occupation of all territories of Ukraine including the AR of Crimea and City of Sevastopol as a must condition to protect human rights and to stop politically reasoned persecutions of Ukrainian citizens.

 Crimean Human Rights Group

PLATFORM FOR RELEASING POLITICAL PRISONERS

Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of Kremlin

CRIMEAN PROCESS Human Rights Organization

ZMINA Center for Human Rights

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

ALMENDA Center for Civil Education

Regional Center for Human Rights

Human Rights House CRIMEA

Fund for Support of Fundamental Research

Truth Hounds

CrimeaSOS

DIYA Human Rights Center

Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group

Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center

Media Initiative for Human Rights

The Practice of Forcible Deportation of Ukrainians to russia and the ORDLO Territories. The Discussion

They were deported to russia, but there was no way to leave it. The parents of our interlocutor, who will be a speaker at Twitter Spaces this Friday, occured in this situation. They hoped to be able to travel from Russia to a third country, but the plan didn’t become reality – there were problems with documents.

The practice of forcible deportation of Ukrainians to russia and the ORDLO territories was started by the russian militaries in 2014 and keeps being implemented in the newly occupied territories. Different number of deportees are announced, but it is difficult to say the exact amount because sdeporties are not registered in Russia.
The eyewitnesses say that the russian militaries are creating conditions in which the only way to survive is to go to Russia and ORDLO. Particularly, they’re shelling humanitarian corridors and not letting humanitarian aid come to the city. MIHR recorded such cases in Mariupol, Chernihiv, Rubizhne, and Hostomel. Then the russian military sets up filtration camps for Ukrainians, where they conduct interrogations and collect personal data.
Why some Ukrainians are not able to leave russia after the so-called evacuation, what occurs in filtration camps, and what rights the russian military is violating deporting people to russia and ORDLO – we will talk about this on Twitter Spases on Friday at 17:00.
The speakers are:
  • Alyona Luneva, Advocacy Manager, ZMINA Human Rights Center;
  • A Ukrainian woman whose parents were forcibly deported to russia;
  • Olha Reshetylova, Coordinator of the Media Initiative for Human Rights;
The event will be moderated by the independent journalist Olha Tokariuk
Please, follow the announcements on Twitter: @MediaInitiativ1
The link to the ether is here: https://bit.ly/3voGIco.

STATEMENT of UHHRU and KHPG on the Consequences of Russia’s “Recognizing” the Self-Proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics

On February 21, 2022, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed decrees on recognizing the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic”, announcing Russia’s plans to establish diplomatic relations with them and to ensure peace in these territories through Russian armed forces until diplomatic relations have been established.

With this step, Russia has given a definitive answer as to its role in the military aggression against Ukraine it began in 2014, since it has already admitted de jure its “political” and military jurisdiction over certain areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts – and thus, has admitted to being a party to an international armed conflict.

Russia has ended the hybrid war stage, when Ukraine had to prove in international tribunals Russia’s overall effective control over the aforementioned territories by virtue of providing funds and military support as well as through Russia-controlled administrations.

Russia’s decision must be followed by an appropriate change in terminology, both in Ukraine and at the international level, and by a clear declaration of  Russia’s status as the occupying power under international humanitarian law.

Parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are now temporarily occupied territories. As the occupying power, Russia must ensure observance of the rights and freedoms of residents of the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Furthermore, Russia can no longer be considered a third party in the international diplomatic format (Trilateral Contact Group for the Peaceful Settlement of the Situation in Eastern Ukraine).

Russia is already enacting in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts the same scenario of widespread and systemic human rights violations that it used in the temporarily occupied Crimea: mass conscription of the local population into the occupants’ “armed forces” and use of political prosecution against anyone who dares to speak out against the occupation. The next steps will likely involve forced relocation of people (convicts, orphans, and other persons under the control of the occupying administrations) to Russia, alteration of local demographics, and other crimes that Russia commits in the territories it occupies as part of the usual scenario.

These easily predicted acts by Russia must be given an appropriate qualification by all civilized states.

An effective package of sanctions must be prepared at the level of international organizations (UN, Council of Europe, OSCE), to be used against Russia if the above scenario comes to pass.

The President and the Parliament of Ukraine must work out a clear strategy for the protection of Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territory in the event of escalating violence and mass violations of human rights and freedoms.

As for the Ukrainian government in general, it must finally, in this ninth year of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, determine state policy on combating the aggression, overcoming its effects, and protecting the rights of the past and future victims of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

 

Y. Zakharov

О. Pavlichenko

LETTER: PRESIDENT BIDEN MUST SANCTION INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN EASTERN UKRAINE

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Biden,

We, the undersigned, write to urge the immediate imposition of targeted sanctions, under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Act or other relevant sanctions regimes, against the names submitted separately of individuals responsible for grave human rights violations in the areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed forces.

The 15 perpetrators against whom we request the imposition of sanctions are listed based on the verified research and efforts of internationally recognized human rights organizations, the Ukrainian Media Initiative for Human Rights (UMIHR) and the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU). These perpetrators work in or with the notorious “Izolatsiya” (“Isolation”) prison in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Hostages in this illegal place of detention, held by Russian-backed forces due to their perceived support for Ukrainian sovereignty and their exercise of free expression, are routinely tortured and subjected to psychological and physical humiliation. The perpetrators committed these grave human rights violations in their capacities as wardens and officers of Izolatsiya and members of the prosecution, judiciary, and state security ministry of the “Donetsk People’s Republic.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Stanislav Aseyev, himself a former Izolatsiya inmate, has documented the torture he endured as well as the torture and killings he witnessed. Mr. Aseyev briefed Congressional and State Department officials as well as civil society leaders in November of this year as part of a delegation of human rights defenders hosted by PEN America.

On December 2, Secretary Blinken warned of “severe costs” to Russia should it mobilize its increasing military presence along the border with Ukraine. Moving urgently to sanction these perpetrators, operating under Russian influence, would reinforce your administration’s support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and your commitment to human rights, and could also serve to encourage the de-escalation of Russian aggression called for by Secretary Blinken. Moreover, imposing these sanctions would signal your administration’s commitment to the recently updated U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership and its provision of support for “accountability for those responsible for abuses of human rights in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia” and the release of the people wrongfully detained in those territories.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has lasted over seven years and has claimed over 13,000 lives, according to a report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Since the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-14, Ukraine has been on the frontline of the struggle for freedom and democracy. Innocent civilians in the occupied territories live in fear of surveillance, arbitrary detention, and torture. With no independent media, civil society organizations, or international observers, the areas of Donbas controlled by Russia-backed forces are a virtual black hole in the middle of Europe. Yet while international attention on annexed Crimea has remained high, the human rights situation in eastern Ukraine has all too often been forgotten. Without a spotlight and meaningful action taken against them, the perpetrators listed below and those who would join them are free to act with impunity.

A threat to one nation’s freedom is a threat to all. We ask that you honor the courage and commitment of the Ukrainian people by taking the powerful and symbolic step that sanctions offer.

Yours sincerely,

Suzanne Nossel
Chief Executive Officer
PEN America

Marc Behrendt
Director, Europe and Eurasia Programs
Freedom House

Dora Chomiak
President
Razom for Ukraine

Francis Fukuyama
Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow
Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stanford University

Melinda Haring
Deputy Director, Eurasia Center
Atlantic Council

Gissou Nia
Director, Strategic Litigation Project
Atlantic Council

Sofya Orlosky
Deputy Director, Europe and Eurasia Programs
Freedom House

Serhii Plokhii
Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History
Director, Ukrainian Research Institute
Harvard University

Matthew Rojansky
Director, Kennan Institute
Wilson Center

William Taylor
Former United States Ambassador to Ukraine

Kurt Volker
Former United States Ambassador to NATO and Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations

Marie Yovanovitch
Former United States Ambassador to Ukraine

 

Sourse: www.pen.org

The Webinar “Ecocide and Offences against the Environment in Armed Conflict: a Need for New Lawfare?”

The Webinar “Ecocide and Offences against the Environment in Armed Conflict: a Need for New Lawfare?”.
It took the world the horrors of World War II to introduce the notions of “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” into international and domestic legal frameworks to ensure individual criminal responsibility for the gravest crimes under international law. With climate change, extinction of species, disappearance of islands and many more unparalleled worrying tendencies escalating, what threshold should – or should not? – be reached to catalyse international legal action on the most detrimental practices affecting our shared habitat – the environment? Should any international court be entitled to consider such cases, name those responsible and decide upon reparations?
The Independent Expert Panel has been convened to attempt to define a new crime of ecocide and start the lengthy advocacy process to get it included into the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The environmental impact of the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict, even if it has not reached the ecocide level yet, has been nevertheless devastating. The flooding of the mines with the subsequent poisoning of underground waters in Donbas or the rushed grand infrastructure projects implemented without proper environmental impact assessments in occupied Crimea are just a few examples of the grave environmental damage caused by Russia’s warfare.
During this webinar, we will discuss the shifting of our environmental consciousness and how ready we are, as the international community and individual nations, to ensure stronger accountability for violations against the environment.
Speakers:
  • Andriy Andrusevych, Senior Policy Expert, Society and Environment;
  • Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Director, Bangladesh Environmental Law Association; Member, global expert drafting panel on the crime of ecocide.
Moderators:
  • Maria Tomak, Coordinator, Media Initiative for Human Rights;
  • Dr Kateryna Busol, Lawyer, Centre for Defence Strategies.
REGISTRATION:
The event will be held in English and through the Zoom platform, simultaneous translation into Ukrainian will be provided.
If you would like to participate in the discussion and/or send your questions and comments to the Zoom chat, please register here: https://forms.gle/aYa25W5Hd6rNksPbA.
You can also follow the webinar on other platforms. The original English discussion will be broadcasted on the YouTube page of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union: https://cutt.ly/JcVI3Nc. The Ukrainian translation of the discussion will be broadcasted on the Facebook pages of the organisers: https://cutt.ly/3cVIDXI, https://cutt.ly/ecVIXiN.
Organisers:
Media Initiative for Human Rights
USAID Human Rights in Action Program
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
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This event is a part of #InternationalLawTalks – a series of webinars aimed to facilitate qualitative, interesting and accessible discussions on the topical issues of international law in Ukraine.
For each session, the webinars bring together distinguished professionals from Ukraine and abroad. They contextualise the armed conflict, peace and transitional justice issues in Ukraine within the larger dynamics of international law and international relations.
The aim of the project is twofold: to help Ukrainian legal professionals and the general public see the wider horizons of their native context and to provide more local and regional insight to international colleagues.
A series of webinars #InternationalLawTalks is made possible thanks to USAID Human Rights in Action Program.

Collective Statement of Non-Governmental Organisations on the removal of Mr Gunduz Mamedov from office

Letter to Embassies and International Organisations

Your Excellencies!

We, representatives of civil society organisations, victims of the armed conflict and their representatives, are addressing you with this letter to express our deep concern and alert you to the recent decisions of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ms Iryna Venediktova, to remove the Deputy Prosecutor General, Mr Gunduz Mamedov (hereafter — “DPG”) from coordinating the work of the Department supervising the investigations of crimes committed during the armed conflict (hereafter — “WCD”) and replace him first with Mr Maksym Yakubovskyi as a responsible Deputy and a day later with herself. Such volatile and unfounded decisions will not only invalidate all the accomplishments of the civil society, victims and WCD of the past 7 years as regards the investigations and prosecution of grave crimes committed in the armed conflict in Ukraine, but it also puts in jeopardy any chance for the victims of the armed conflict to obtain justice for grave violations they suffered.

Investigating and prosecuting grave international crimes requires a specialist set of skills and knowledge, a different infrastructure and a legislative framework — an altogether different approach to the one used to prosecute ordinary crimes. This is a change, which DPG Mamedov has been actively promoting through his dedicated work from 2016, first at the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City, and since October 2019, at the central level at the Office of the Prosecutor General. He had spent years on developing and building necessary skills and knowledge of the international humanitarian law and international criminal law and passing it on to the prosecutors of the WCD and its regional branches. He has been open to cooperation with the CSOs, victims of the armed conflict and their representatives, as well as international experts in the area, and has had their fully consolidated support. Such initiatives have significantly contributed to the development of best practices in prosecuting grave crimes at the national level.

Furthermore, the situation in Ukraine was subject to preliminary examination by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (hereafter — “OTP”, “ICC”) for 5 years, and at the end of last year, the OTP concluded that the results of the preliminary examination warranted a full investigation. This was a vital decision for the victims of the armed conflict in Ukraine, the one that gives them hope that their rights will be restored and those who had caused them unbearable pain and suffering would not go unpunished.  The decision was the result of fruitful cooperation between the civil society organisations, and WCD fully supported, welcomed and encouraged the DPG Mamedov. Moreover, the draft law 2689, which aims to implement international humanitarian law into domestic law in May 2021, was finally adopted by the Verkhovna Rada following 6 years of relentless campaigning; victims and CSOs are now patiently awaiting the President’s signature for it to enter into force. The adoption of the law was also the result of active cooperation between the WCD, CSOs and with the support of the international community. Despite these intermittent positive results, prosecution of grave international crimes still requires a lot of work: prosecutors of the WCD require support in further developing their knowledge and skills in the application of international legal standards, case prioritisation and case allocation criteria, case document management systems, security, evidence procedures and public outreach policies to name a few. Development and realisation of these skills are only possible with the support of a strong, knowledgeable and experienced leader.

The decision is even more staggering in light of the fact that none of them, including the Prosecutor General herself, have any relevant knowledge, experience or even conceptual understanding of the above. Therefore, her motives are unclear. However, what is clear is that placing someone to supervise this work in the absence of the necessary knowledge and experience will have a crippling effect on all the positive developments and plans and will put an end to any hopes for justice for the victims of grave crimes.

Excellencies!

In light of the above, the civil society organisations and victims associations are appealing to you with the request to recommend:

  • to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine: to rescind her decision to replace DPG Mamedov with anyone who has no relevant knowledge and experience, and to return the WCD under the supervision of DPG Mamedov as soon as possible; to abstain from further attempts to subvert all the efforts aimed at ensuring justice and accountability for grave international crimes committed during the armed conflict in Ukraine by making unbalanced, ill-considered and misguided decisions;
  • to the President of Ukraine: to ensure independence of the prosecutors of the WCD including DPG Mamedov.

Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group 

DIYA Human Rights Center

Human Rights Center ZMINA

Crimean Human Rights Group

Media Initiative for Human Rights

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

NGO “Blue Bird”

Truth Hounds

Human Rights Platform

Eastern Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives

Regional Centre for Human Rights

Center for Civil Liberties

NGO “Donbas SOS”

NGO “Human Rights Vector”

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group

NGO “CrimeaSOS”

DEJURE Foundation

Nina Branovytska, mother of Ihor Branovytskiy, detained, tortured and killed by armed groups

Yevhenia Zakrevska,  Victims’ Lawyer  

Vitaliy Tytych, Victims’ Lawyer 

Ukrainian Movement of Hostages’ Families “Return Home»

Nina Vynyarska and Sergiy Kodman,  sister and father of Oleksiy Kodman, illegally detained during 2015-2017 in Donetsk

NGO CCE “Almenda”

NGO “Euromaidan-Crimea” 

Human Rights House “Crimea”

Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin

The Webinar “Universal Jurisdiction over Atrocities: What Should Ukraine Know about This Tool?”

The webinar ” Universal Jurisdiction over Atrocities: What Should Ukraine Know about This Tool?” (27 April, 18:30 – 20:00 EET). 

It is often said that the Yazidi survivors of the crimes of the so called Islamic State (ISIL) or victims of mass atrocities in the contexts like Belarus or Syria have little prospect of facing justice with their domestic courts being ineffective or unavailable and international courts being unable to intervene. 

At the same time, a German court made waves in February 2021, by convicting a Syrian secret service officer for torture as a crime against humanity. The proceedings were based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which provides jurisdiction to national courts over certain grave crimes even when the crimes did not occur on that state’s territory, and when neither victim nor perpetrator is a national of the state where the crime is being prosecuted. This is due to the appalling nature of the crimes concerned and the threats they and the lack of their prosecution poses to an international rule-based order.

With Russia’s occupation of Crimea and support of their proxies in eastern Ukraine, having marked eight years, the Ukrainian Government has pursued a variety of accountability avenues in domestic, regional and international courts. However, as many alleged perpetrators are out of reach of Ukraine’s agencies and since international trials might take years, Ukraine also levies its hope for justice on other states and the proceedings they might open into Crimean and Donbas contexts on the basis of universal jurisdiction. 

The experts will discuss the evolution, relevance  and current dynamics of universal jurisdiction cases, how they correlate with other fact-finding, investigative and adjudication initiatives and whether and if Ukraine could pursue this avenue of justice.

 

Speakers:

  • Almudena Bernabeu, Co-head, Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers;
  • Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights;
  • Giunduz Mamedov, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Head of the Department of Supervision of Criminal Proceedings concerning Crimes Committed during the Armed Conflict.

Moderators:

-Maria Tomak, Coordinator, Media Initiative for Human Rights;

-Dr Kateryna Busol, Lawyer, Centre for Defence Strategies.

 

REGISTRATION:

The event will be held in English and through the Zoom platform, simultaneous translation into Ukrainian will be provided.

If you would like to participate in the discussion and/or send your questions and comments to the Zoom chat, please register here: https://forms.gle/rHd7RbaTf9UWWXox6. 

You can also follow the webinar on other platforms. The original English discussion will be broadcasted on the YouTube page of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union: https://cutt.ly/JcVI3Nc. The Ukrainian translation of the discussion will be broadcasted on the Facebook pages of the organisers: https://cutt.ly/3cVIDXI, https://cutt.ly/ecVIXiN. 

 

Organisers:

-Media Initiative for Human Rights;

-USAID Human Rights in Action Program;

-Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union;

-Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

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This event is a part of #InternationalLawTalks – a series of webinars aimed to facilitate qualitative, interesting and accessible discussions on the topical issues of international law in Ukraine. 

For each session, the webinars bring together distinguished professionals from Ukraine and abroad. They contextualise the armed conflict, peace and transitional justice issues in Ukraine within the larger dynamics of international law and international relations. 

The aim of the project is twofold: to help Ukrainian legal professionals and the general public see the wider horizons of their native context and to provide more local and regional insight to international colleagues.

 

УГСПЛ є співорганізатором заходу в рамках програми Агентства США з міжнародного розвитку (USAID) «Права людини в дії».

У світі, USAID є однією з провідних установ у сфері розвитку, яка виконує роль каталізатора цих процесів та допомагає досягати позитивних результатів. Діяльність USAID є проявом доброчинності американського народу, а також підтримує просування країн-отримувачів допомоги до самостійності та стійкості та сприяє забезпеченню національної безпеки та економічного добробуту США. Партнерські стосунки з Україною USAID підтримує з 1992 року; за цей час, загальна вартість допомоги, наданої Україні з боку Агентства, склала понад 3 млрд. доларів США. До поточних стратегічних пріоритетів діяльності USAID в Україні належать зміцнення демократії та механізмів досконалого врядування, сприяння економічному розвитку та енергетичній безпеці, вдосконалення систем охорони здоров’я та пом’якшення наслідків конфлікту у східних регіонах. Для того, щоб отримати додаткову інформацію про діяльність USAID, просимо Вас звертатися до Відділу зв’язків з громадськістю Місії USAID в Україні за тел. (+38 044) 521-57-53. Також пропонуємо завітати на наш вебсайт: http://www.usaid.gov/ukraine, або на сторінку у Фейсбук: https://www.facebook.com/USAIDUkraine.

International Platform CivilM+ Calls for Preventing Further Escalation in Donbas

We, representatives of civil society organisations from Ukraine, Russia and the EU, are observing with concern the escalation of hostilities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A ceasefire, albeit fragile, had been holding since the summer of 2020, allowing to hope that civilian and military casualties, fear and hiding in shelters were a thing of the past, and that the parties would begin to address humanitarian issues.

Despite many months of negotiations in the Minsk format, as well as working meetings of the state representatives of the Normandy Four, hostilities have started again, with no consensus on humanitarian priorities. It is also worrying that Russia is pulling troops and military equipment to the border and is actively spreading propaganda inside the country about the need to “protect Donbas from Ukrainian aggression”. We remember what such calls led to seven years ago.

“The crisis in and around Ukraine remains the most serious challenge to European security,” stressed Ann Linde, Swedish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, addressing the UN Security Council in March 2021. Understanding that the escalation in Ukraine is taking place against the backdrop of a pandemic and the EU countries’ priority is to combat the virus and ensue vaccination, we call on the international community, especially Germany and France, to respond to the situation and resume negotiations in the Normandy format at the highest level. Preventing further intensification of hostilities and new human suffering on both sides of the line of contact is a common task for politicians, diplomats and civil society.

It is clear that the Minsk format of the peace talks also needs to be restarted. United civil society sees no alternative to negotiations and to a diplomatic solution to the conflict based on the principles of international law and respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Within the framework of the Minsk format, we call on international mediators and observers to act on the basis of agreed procedures and an understanding of who the negotiating parties and parties to the conflict are. We also believe that the Ukrainian delegation could strengthen its position through internal political consolidation and open consultations with civil society, which is ready to make proposals.

The primary task at the moment is to stop the escalation and prevent new victims. Resources must be found for constructive negotiations to finally achieve the results on such burning issues as the simultaneous release of detainees, the opening of new and reopening of all the crossing points blocked by the self-proclaimed “DPR”/”LPR”, demining and ensuring unimpeded access for OSCE SMM monitors to the territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government.

The Webinar “How to Ensure a Fair Trial in War? 15:30-17:00 EET

Ensuring fair court proceedings can be challenging even in peacetime. The situation of an armed conflict adds an additional layer of difficulties. 

 

The access to occupied or temporarily uncontrolled territories is limited and the documentation of alleged violations in such areas is dangerous or, in some cases, even impossible. Further, investigators, prosecutors, defence counsel and judges might lack experience of working on certain atrocities such as war crimes or crimes against humanity. The adjudication of certain types of criminal conduct such as conflict-related sexual violence is complicated by stigmas, taboos and the consequential “invisibility” of such issues. One of the most acute problems is the polarisation of a society exhausted by war. Such circumstances catalyse the dangerous demand for quick convictions. The latter are needed for the deceptive creation of an “us” and “they” narrative and are often secured at the expense of due process.

The speakers will analyse the difficulties of ensuring equal access to justice of all participants of armed conflicts; the use of open source evidence in atrocities proceedings; the role of “judgments” rendered in non-recognised territories and other issues, which will help better understand not only how to guaranty fair trials in armed conflict but also how to make such proceedings an integral component of reconciliation.

Speakers:

 

Moderators:

– Maria Tomak, Coordinator, Media Initiative for Human Rights;

– Dr Kateryna Busol, Lawyer, Centre for Defence Strategies.

 

REGISTRATION:

The event will be held in English and through the Zoom platform, simultaneous translation into Ukrainian will be provided.

If you would like to participate in the discussion and/or send your questions and comments to the Zoom chat, please register here: https://forms.gle/iezuUfFxGLNEsr7y5.  

You can also follow the webinar on other platforms. The original English discussion will be broadcasted on the YouTube page of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union: https://cutt.ly/JcVI3Nc. The Ukrainian translation of the discussion will be broadcasted on the Facebook pages of the organisers: https://cutt.ly/3cVIDXI, https://cutt.ly/ecVIXiN. 

 

Organisers:

Media Initiative for Human Rights

USAID Human Rights in Action Program

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

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This event is a part of #InternationalLawTalks – a series of webinars aimed to facilitate qualitative, interesting and accessible discussions on the topical issues of international law in Ukraine. 

For each session, the webinars bring together distinguished professionals from Ukraine and abroad. They contextualise the armed conflict, peace and transitional justice issues in Ukraine within the larger dynamics of international law and international relations. 

The aim of the project is twofold: to help Ukrainian legal professionals and the general public see the wider horizons of their native context and to provide more local and regional insight to international colleagues. 

 

A series of webinars #InternationalLawTalks is made possible thanks to USAID Human Rights in Action Program.

Joint statement of human rights organizations regarding the establishment of a state system for monitoring and documenting human rights, international humanitarian law and other violations committed during the military aggression of the Russian Federation

Ukrainian human rights organizations that, since 2014, have been monitoring and documenting human rights, international humanitarian law (IHL) and other violations committed during the military aggression of the Russian Federation, request that relevant state authorities speed up the creation of a state system for monitoring and documenting human rights, IHL and other violations committed during the military aggression of the Russian Federation.

Monitoring and documentation are a prerequisite for the implementation of transitional justice measures (prosecuting those responsible for violations, providing reparations to the victims, ensuring the right to truth and taking steps to prevent new human rights violations), as well as for the implementation of reintegration policy.

The legal framework for the Government’s monitoring and documenting of human rights, IHL and other violations committed during the military aggression of the Russian Federation is provided by the Law of Ukraine No. 1207-VII (Article 5) of 15 April 2014 “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” and the Law of Ukraine No. 2268-VIII (Article 6) of 18 January 2018 “On the Particulars of State Policy on Ensuring State Sovereignty of Ukraine in the Temporarily Occupied Areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts” .

Implementing the Strategy for the Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 117/2021 of 24 March 2021 will not be possible without a state monitoring and documentation system, since monitoring and documentation as well as keeping records (databases) of violations of human rights, fundamental freedoms and IHL are common themes throughout the Strategy’s text.

The creation of a state system for monitoring and documenting human rights, IHL and other violations committed during the military aggression of the Russian Federation must be based on the following principles:

– rather than simply focusing on establishing a state agency (Documentation Center), the system should also be aimed at building systemic and coordinated relations between the government and civil society in the field of monitoring and documenting violations, as well as at the development and adoption of regulatory, technical and methodological documents to ensure the creation and smooth operation of a database of violations; collection of data regarding violations and exchange of such data between state authorities and law enforcement agencies; work with information sources and victims/witnesses; their inclusion as participants in the justice-seeking process; ensuring maximum protection for victims/witnesses, such as protecting their personal information, ensuring their mental safety during interviews, obtaining informed consent to any action taken in relation to these persons; use of data; training of civil servants; interaction between state authorities in using data for the purpose of ensuring the implementation of transitional justice measures, implementation of reintegration policy, implementation of domestic and foreign policy, as well as implementation of dialogue processes at the regional and state level; fair distribution of reparations;

– safeguards should be established to avoid abuse due to the existence of a “monopolistic” state agency (Documentation Center), in particular, by creating a system of external experts and observers (for instance, in the form of a Supervisory Board) from among Ukrainian human rights organizations and international organizations;

– all central executive bodies, local self-government bodies and other state bodies (civil-military administrations, local state administrations, united territorial communities) should be involved in the operation of the state monitoring and documentation system;

– the effectiveness of the state monitoring and documentation system will depend on the level of cooperation between state authorities, in particular, on cooperation with law enforcement as well as with Ukrainian human rights organizations and international organizations that have accumulated data regarding violations and have experience in collecting, processing and using such data due to having been monitoring and documenting events related to the military aggression of the Russian Federation;

– the creation of a state monitoring and documentation system will require making some difficult decisions, since it will involve documenting human rights, IHL and other violations committed by all parties to the armed conflict started by the Russian Federation. Documentation must be thorough and impartial.

Ukrainian human rights organizations that monitor and document human rights, IHL and other violations committed during the military aggression of the Russian Federation stand ready to provide relevant state authorities with expert, informational, technical and other support for the creation of a state system for monitoring and documenting such violations.

 

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group

Crimean Human Rights Group

 Truth Hounds NGO

Media Initiative for Human Rights