In the framework of permanent cooperation with the United Nations’ bodies and officials, our Association sent a submission to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances for preparation of its next thematic report on enforced disappearances and memorialization.
This input, prepared by Anna Prykhodko and other experts and published on the UN official web-sources now, reminded the Working Group that since the beginning of the occupation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and until 2021, OHCHR has documented 43 cases of enforced disappearances in Crimea;
The ARC submission reminded that the European Court on Human Rights established in its interstate case’s Judgment in June 2024 against Russia regarding Crimea the existence of Russia’s systemic practice regarding human rights violations, including enforced disappearances.
The ARC submission added that during the Russian full-scale invasion against Ukraine, the number of enforced disappearances enlarged hundreds of times. As of January 2026, in the Russia-occupied areas of the Kherson region, only 1979 cases of abduction or disappearance of people were recorded.
The ARC submission pointed out that Ukrainian state structures and civil society make systematic efforts for the memorialization of victims of enforced disappearances, who were kidnapped in the Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Relevant activities of the Strategic Forum “The Future of Crimea”, the International Crimea Platform, and relevant aspects of Ukraine’s Peace Formula were described, taking into account issues of the memorialization of victims of enforced disappearances.
The ARC submission summarized that the issues of the memorialization of victims of enforced disappearances, kidnapped by foreign occupying forces at occupied territories, especially conjunct with occupiers’ hate speech, genocidal calls, and political repressions and with the interregional enforced transition of kidnapped persons, must be researched by the international bodies separately.
