Ignoring international agreements and treaties, starting from April 2014, the Ukrainian security forces have permanently opened heavy fire on settlements in Donbass which caused casualties and injuries among thousands of civilians not involved in the military conflict. Ukraine used lethal weapons with indiscriminate effect that are banned by the international humanitarian law. These are weapons designed to kill people and destroy infrastructure as efficiently as possible. Many settlements, primarily those located close to the contact line, were left without water, gas and electricity, the mobile telecommunication services were interrupted, access to food and medicine was cut off. People were killed by artillery shells fired by the Ukrainian army, died from famine, lack of water and medicine.
With sheer cynicism, the Ukrainian military forces were shelling hospitals, morgues and schools modified as bomb shelters. Cemeteries were also shelled. This led to spontaneously formed mass graves of civilians who fell victims of Ukraine's military and political regime and its Western curators.
As of December 2021, there were found more than 16 such graves, both mass and single. One of the single burials contained the remains of a four month baby. Altogether, 295 human remains were removed from graves, analysed and officially registered between August and November 2021. The first forensic examination of the remains found in all the graves in the LPR and the DPR showed that most of the dead were women and elderly men who died from firearm and mine blast injuries and blunt-force traumas.
In addition to massacres in Donbass caused by shelling, Kyiv imposed the water supply, economic and transport blockade on Donbass that resulted in a humanitarian disaster in the region. Life in most cities located along the contact line became a struggle for sheer survival under total war conditions when nobody makes a distinction between a civilian and a combatant.
The Donbass residents lived that way for almost eight years. The economic and transport blockade imposed by Kyiv on Donbass has continued, as well as the permit regime for citizens crossing the contact line in the conflict-affected area. These restrictions greatly hinder access to basic services, in particular to water supply, heating and healthcare, for several millions of conflict-affected people, including more than a million of registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) and citizens living in areas of armed clashes, and lead to the lack of adequate housing, effective remedies and redress mechanisms.
Ukrainian authorities do not guarantee sustainable payment of pensions to all Ukrainian citizens regardless their place of residence and registration. Residents of the DPR and LPR still find themselves in a dire situation with social benefits and pensions as they face significant difficulties in obtaining them. Restrictions imposed by the authorities in Kiev create most unfavourable conditions for residents of South-Eastern Ukraine and hinder payment of their benefits and other entitlements. Particular risks occur due to the requirement for residents of these territories to regularly confirm their status in the territory controlled by Kiev. In order to do that they have to regularly cross the "contact line". Crossing is complicated by long queues as well as the persistent danger of the escalation of hostilities.
IDPs, who also face considerable difficulties in receiving social benefits, find themselves in a precarious situation.
In 2018, President’s representative at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Lutsenko said that as of 2014, about 1.2 million pensioners lived in the south-east of the country. After the outbreak of hostilities, pensions continued to be paid to 570,000 people who lived in the territory controlled by Kyiv. Over 600,000 people were left without social support from the authorities.
According to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, only 562 thousand people registered in the unrecognized republics (which is less than half of their total number as of August 2014) continued to receive funds through this entity in December 2018.
These problems came to the attention of international human rights mechanisms which noted, in this regard, that the conflict unleashed by the Kyiv authorities in the south-east of the country negatively affects the entire population, causing massive impoverishment and contributing to economic stagnation. So, between 2013 and 2015 alone, the percentage of people with incomes below the subsistence level increased from 22 per cent to 58 per cent.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (the HRMU) noted that the lack of access to quality basic services and the discriminatory policy of the Kiev authorities continue to have a negative impact on the rights of residents affected by the conflict in the south-east, including the IDPs, particularly on freedom of movement and access to pensions and social benefits. Noting the implementation of a mechanism for paying compensation for houses destroyed during the conflict (this was only made possible after urgent appeals by international human rights entities), the Mission expressed concerns about the continued discrimination of the conflict-affected citizens on the basis of their place of residence, as well as the non-transparent methods of calculating the compensation amount.
Moreover, the problem of using civilian property for military purposes without compensation remains. Neither central nor local authorities provided adequate housing and paid compensation to persons forced to relocate due to their property being used for military purposes or due to the proximity to military positions.
Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky (Argentina), Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, pointed out in his report following his visit to Ukraine in May 2018 that pensioners living in Donbass were forced to regularly cross the checkpoints and register as internally displaced persons in order to continue receiving pension payment. At the same time, they face risks to life and significant travel expenses – from 50 to 80 per cent of the pension. According to Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, over 600,000 pensioners do not receive payments. Moreover, the payment of pensions to those who registered their place of residence in territories controlled by the Ukrainian authorities was stopped in 2017.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted this problem within its mandate, pointing out the inconsistency between law and practice in Ukraine. In particular, while noting the adoption of the Act on Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons in October 2014, as well as a number of resolutions and decrees on assistance to internally displaced women, the Committee stressed that the no measures were taken.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in August 2016 also drew attention to the hardship of displaced people. In particular, the Committee is concerned at the linkage of social benefits, including pensions, to the status of IDP and residence in the areas controlled by the Kyiv authorities, which prevents some internally displaced persons from having access to such social benefits; the hampering of the local integration of internally displaced persons by the legal and regulatory framework; difficulties in accessing affordable housing and adequate employment by such people; and restrictions on freedom of movement, which prevents access of IDP to social services, education and health-care services.
The CERD also noted that people are placed in physical danger when crossing the checkpoints. Thus, they may get caught in crossfire or get hurt by land-mines. All these factors prevent persons belonging to ethnic minorities, such as Roma, from registering as IDP and having access to social assistance. Most such persons are at risk of discrimination and stigmatization.
OHCHR and the OSCE SMM regularly monitor the development in the area. Human rights defenders noted that due to the imposition of restrictions in the light of the spread of Covid-19, the hardship of the population affected by the conflict has become even more acute. The situation was greatly exacerbated by the fact that it became virtually impossible to cross the line of contact since many people simply could not meet the requirements for a permit.
In March 2020, Matilda Bogner (Australia), head of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), emphasized to the Kyiv authorities that they needed to commence pension payments to the residents of the non-controlled territories of Donbass, calling on the newly formed Government and Parliament to review the draft law on pensions in accordance with human rights standards and to resume the process of its adoption as a matter of priority.
The HRMMU report which covers the period from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021, notes that the number of contact line crossings has decreased by 96 per cent compared to the 2019-2020 pre-Covid-19 period (from 7,117,000 to 294,000 people). Matilda Bogner, head of the HRMMU, noted that so far Ukraine has not developed a State policy of legal protection and compensation for victims of the conflict, and no mechanism for registering children born in the non-controlled territories has been introduced (as a result, some 65,000 children do not have birth certificates).
Residents of South-Eastern Ukraine are subjected to discriminatory treatment by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
Keeping track of the situation regarding of the right to liberty and security of person, international human rights monitoring institutions have noted multiple facts of illegal detention, torture, intimidation, ill-treatment, and sexual violence. Similar examples are regularly included in the reports of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Numerous violations of citizens’ rights to a fair trial continue to occur, including in criminal cases related to the conflict in Donbass. It is common to force persons under investigation to conclude plea agreements, try cases in the absence of the accused, for right-wing radical nationalists to attack lawyers and intimidate them, as well as put pressure on members of the judiciary.
The use of torture and violence against detainees by law enforcement officials and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) is systemic and is characterized, as a rule, by impunity. Cases of unlawful detention, torture and ill-treatment by the SSU against persons detained on charges related to the conflict in the south-east are regularly documented by the HRMMU.
There is a widespread problem of coercing confessions. The HRMMU has recorded complaints that the SSU and the investigating authorities forced people to confess in front of the camera that they belong to or have links with armed groups. In several cases, such videos were published on the official websites of the National Police and the SSU. At the same time, according to the Mission, the detainees made statements against themselves as a result of torture, ill-treatment, or intimidation by SSU officers.
In a joint report, human rights organization Human Rights Watch together with Amnesty International noted, with reference to their 2016 investigation, the illegal and violent nature of the detention of citizens by employees of the Ukrainian special services and investigative authorities. Such incidents include cases related to expressing disagreement with the official policy of the Kyiv authorities. Illegal detention of Konstantin Beskorovainy by SSU officers from November 2014 to February 2016 for participating in anti-Maidan rallies and events in defence of Soviet monuments served as an example. He was accused of preparing terrorist attacks. He was tortured and ill-treated, as a result his health seriously deteriorated. Konstantin Beskorovainy also said that the cells in which he was kept were overcrowded, and the people in them, including those with disabilities and the elderly, were systematically beaten and were detained for the exchange of prisoners of war. After his release, he, along with other former prisoners, officially filed a complaint against the actions of the SSU. During the investigation, there were unreasonable delays in the proceeding, victims were intimidated, leading to their refusal to participate in the criminal process. Among other things, the territorial office of the military prosecutor attempted to change the applicant’s status from victim to witness and to close the case. The investigation was reopened after several appeals.
Torture of detained persons by the SSU was also confirmed by persons who took part in the exchange of detainees between Kyiv and the LPR and the DPR. In particular, persons who returned from territories controlled by Kyiv after the exchange of detainees that took place on 29 December 2019 said that officials of the SSU and the Azov radical group tortured them to obtain confessions. In particular, prisoners had to take responsibility for fighting in Mariupol on 9 May 2014 and to testify about their sabotage training near Rostov. The detainees were subjected to beating, strangling, mock hanging or drowning, tortured with electric shocks, and threatened with reprisals against their loved ones.
Exchanged persons also said that they had been kept in secret SSU prisons before being sent to detention centres. At the same time, several weeks to several months passed from actual detention to its official registration.
According to Human Rights Ombudsman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Daria Morozova, all detainees released by Kyiv confirmed that they had been subjected to illegal interrogation methods.
