Ukraine: Human Rights Violations, Arbitrary Detention and Torture - Human Rights Mission Briefing

Описание: Matilda Bogner, Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, stated, "From the beginning of its armed attack, Russia began to detain civilians in areas that it occupied. It carried out what appeared in some cases to be security detentions, but in a manner that did not protect civilians or comply with international law."

The findings of a recently released report, covering a period of 15 months from February 2022 to May 2023, are based on extensive research, including 1,136 interviews, 274 site visits, and 70 visits to official places of detention. According to the report, over 900 cases of arbitrary detention of civilians, including children and elderly individuals, were documented by the United Nations Joint Human Rights office in Ukraine.

“Many civilian detainees were held incommunicado, in unofficial places of detention, often in deplorable conditions. In about a quarter of the documented cases, civilian detainees were transferred to other locations within the occupied territory or deported to the Russian Federation. Often, no information was disclosed to their families for prolonged periods of time.”

Legislative amendments passed last year, and practices by Ukrainian security forces resulted also in an environment conducive to arbitrary detention. “We documented 75 cases of arbitrary detention by Ukrainian security forces, mostly of people suspected of conflict-related offenses. A significant proportion of these cases also amounted to enforced disappearance, perpetrated mainly by the Security Service of Ukraine,” she said.

Under martial law, legislative amendments have given Ukrainian authorities wider discretion to detain people in relation to national security. Given their excessive scope, the amended provisions appear to go beyond what is permissible under international law, even during a public emergency and have facilitated arbitrary detention.

The law on collaboration, adopted in March 2022, is not in line, according to the report, with international law and criminalizes a wide range of conduct, including that permitted or required under International Humanitarian Law. It has led to cases of arbitrary detention. The misuse of legislative provisions to detain civilians without a warrant, resulted in further cases of arbitrary detention.

“We documented that over half of those arbitrarily detained were subjected to torture or ill-treatment by Ukrainian security forces. This happened while people were being interrogated, usually immediately after arrest,” Bogner said.

“Our report contains recommendations to the Russian Federation and Ukraine, urging them to release anyone who is arbitrarily detained and to fully comply with provisions of international law that govern the treatment and protection of conflict-related civilian detainees,” she stated.