The military conflict in Eastern Ukraine further aggravated the problem of total disregard to property and ownership along with human dignity. Bombarding public buildings, setting up military facilities there, grabbing homes and business became, unfortunately, the traditional background of confrontations. Cases of outright robbery of locals by the volunteer battalions of the National Guard of Ukraine are difficult to call the struggle for “minds” of residents of Donbas.

The proposed analytical report documented the most typical violations of property rights on the territory of the military conflict. Based on the testimonies of residents and monitoring missions to the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk oblast, UHHRU tries to assess damages of property and the government’s ability to influence the minimization of the consequences of such loss.

The publication is devoted to the complex analysis of property rights protection under the conditions of the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine. It considers the international legal understanding of the essence of the right of free possession of the property and its legal nature. It analyses the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the formation of European standards of property rights protection. It studies the features of property rights protection under the conditions of armed conflicts. It considers issues of the property rights during the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

The report used information obtained during the field mission that was supported by the Human Rights in Action project of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is implemented by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. The American people, through USAID, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years. In Ukraine, USAID provides assistance in areas such as economic development, democracy and governance, health and social sector. Since 1992, the US Agency for International Development has provided Ukraine with technical and humanitarian assistance worth 1.8 billion US dollars. More information about USAID programs in Ukraine is available on the official website of USAID ukraine.usaid.gov and Facebook facebook.com/USAIDUkraine.

The report is published in the section Publications (in Ukrainian).

Authors: O.A. Bida, A.B. Blaha, O.A. Martynenko, M.H. Statkevich; edited by A.P. Bushchenko/ Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union