Representatives of the Coalition ‘Justice for Peace in Donbas’ have recently met with the representatives of more than 20 delegates of European diplomatic representations and international organizations. Along with the partners—The German Russian Exchange (Berlin) and Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Warsaw)—the representatives of the Coaltion outlined current human rights situation in Donbas.

During the event the spokespersons took the stock of the project «European Support for the Effective Monitoring of Human Rights in Eastern Ukraine», implemented last year. Volodymyr Shcherbachenko, head of board at Eastern-Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives, inter alia, has shared the results of the research on violence in the conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine. Olexandra Dvoretska and Kostyantyn Reytskyy, co-coordinators at CF “Vostok-SOS” evidenced the facts of difficult social conditions due to an armed conflict. Valeriy Novykov, the chairman of Luhansk regional human rights center “Alternative” described the problem of shelling of civilian objects, healthcare facilities in particular.

There was a lively discussion on current situation in Avdiyivka and on issues of investigation of crimes committed during the armed conflict. Humanitarian and political situation in Donbas too have been among main concerns of those present at the meeting. Diplomats of the embassies of Great Britain, Switzerland, France, Hungary and other countries wondered whether it’s possible to hold the elections on the temporarily occupied territories.

The spokesmen of the event stated their clear position regarding the recent statement of the Ambassador of Germany in Ukraine Ernst Reichel. The Coalition representatives along with Stefan Melle (The German Russian Exchange) and Bogna Chmielewska (Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights) emphasized the impossibility of elections on the temporarily occupied territories until Russian forces are pulled out of Ukraine.

Eastern-Ukrainian Centre for Civic Initiatives under the auspices of the Coalition "Justice for Peace in Donbas" conducted monitoring of gender-based violence in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, focusing particularly on such cases happened in illegal detention facilities. As a result of the monitoring, which lasted from spring 2014 to winter 2016, a report was prepared to the 66th session of the CEDAW.

Ukrainian human rights activists have jointly carried out this submission with colleagues from the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw.

The report covers three main issues:

1. Gender-based violence against women in conflict area.

2. The lack of statistics on sexual violence in the conflict area.

3. No investigation and prosecution of sexual violence against women in the conflict area.

According to the report, as of December 2016 out of 95 interviews with survivors who were held in places of illegal detention 64 interviews have information about GBV against women. Of those, 94 women were victims of sexual violence in illegal detention facilities operated by illegal armed groups and 2 women were subjected to sexual violence in illegal facilities operated by Ukrainian volunteer armed groups.

"While the UN Committee looks for evidence of illegal detention of women by illegal armed groups, seeks for the cause and conditions of detention in the territories of the so-called “LPR” and “DPR”, Ukraine doesn’t provide information requested, explaining it with a lack of access to those territories. Human rights defenders find evidence of sexual violence in every third interview. They want to highlight the necessity to collect such facts by the Ukrainian law inforcement agencies in order to bring the perpetrators to justice’

said Hanna Yanova, an analyst at "Eastern-Ukrainian Centre for Civic Initiatives", who worked out the text of the report.

According to human rights activists, the first thing Ukraine should do is to take steps to organizing the collection and preservation of evidence on sexual violence against women in the territories of the so-controlled "LPR" and "DPR" and ensure the effective investigation of such cases. Especially those related to women held in captivity by illegal armed groups.

Members of the Coalition "Justice for Peace in Donbas" collected data for the report thanks to the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, and UNDP. International Orgaization Women`s International League for Peace and Freedom provided methodological assistance in the report preparation.

The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Herashchenko, wrote on her Facebook page Facebook page that Ukraine is categorical about the issue of involvement of minors in an armed conflict. She also pointed out that currently it is known about dozens of cases when underage were involved in combat.

‘Ukraine is totally against involvement of children in conflict; we have dozens of cases of involvement of teenagers in carrying out duties at separatists’ checkpoints, and Russian websites and newspapers publish numerous news on militarized camps for teens where children from the occupied territories were trained for future wars’, says Herashchenko.

Let's remind that nearly 40 % of students and 72 % of teachers of vocational educational institutions reported that they are aware of the facts of the participation of persons under 18 in hostilities.

See also: Eight stories of children involved in military conflict in Donbas

Involvement of children in illegal armed groups is a crime. if you know about cases of involving minors in illegal armed groups, please, fill out a secure form on the Coalition’s website. The Coalition will not publish or transfer information to third parties without your written consent.