In October, 2024 UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances presented, after relevant discussions, Concluding observations CED/C/UKR/CO/1 on the report, submitted by Ukraine. This Observations cover period after Ukraine’s ratification relevant UN Convention, and, respectively, it include the perion of broad-scale Russian aggression.
Our Association described to UN Commitee issues of enforced disappearances, committed by Russian invaders in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and some of our relevant submissions, prepared by Professor Borys Babin and expert Julia Sidorenko, were published on UN web-sources.
In new Concluding observations UN Committee acknowledged the particular challenges, faced by Ukraine as state-party to guarantee the application of the Convention in areas not under its control, including the AR of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, occupied since 2014, and other territories occupied in the context of full-scale military aggression launched in February 2022, including certain areas of Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions, where most allegations of enforced disappearances have been reported.
The Committee took note that 150 illegal places of detention have been identified by Ukraine there and 7,166 captured Ukrainian defenders and illegally detained civilians have been released. Nevertheless, the Committee is concerned that the authorities have limited capacity and practical ability to investigate the numerous allegations of enforced disappearances of Ukrainian civiliansand prisoners of war, and impunity prevails.
Also UN Committee is concerned the challenges faced by Ukrainian authorities to systematically provide information to the relatives of disappeared persons in the occupied territories about the progress made and the difficulties faced in the process of search and investigation.
In Observations UN Committee is awared also that the armed conflict has led to mass internal and international forced displacements, including of women and children, that have put them at heightened risk of becoming victims of trafficking.
In this framework UN Committee reminded on its General comment No. 1 (2023) on enforced disappearance in the context of migration, where our submission for its drafting was also sent to the Committee.
