A/HRC/42/40/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. A delegation of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances conducted an official visit to Ukraine from 11 to 20 June 2018. 2. The delegation was composed of the Vice-Chair of the Working Group, and Tae-Ung Baik, Luciano Hazan and Henrikas Mickevicius, members of the Working Group. 3. At the outset, the Working Group wishes to thank the Government of Ukraine for extending an invitation to visit the country, and for the efforts made before and during the visit to facilitate its smooth undertaking. It also thanks the de facto authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk for the cooperation during the visit in the territory under their control. 4. The Working Group also wishes to thank the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine for the continuous support during the visit. 5. The Working Group met, inter alia, with the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ombudsperson of Ukraine (the national preventive mechanism), the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the State Criminal Enforcement Service and the Centre for Free Legal Aid, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, the National Police in Kyiv and Mariupol, the Office of the Prosecutor General in Kyiv and the Military Prosecutors in Kyiv and Kramatorsk. 6. The delegation also met with the “ombudsperson” of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”, the “forensic bureau” in Donetsk, the “acting minister of foreign affairs” of the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” and the representative of the “Luhansk People’s Republic” in the Working Group on Humanitarian Issues of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk. 7. The Working Group held a series of meetings with the persons subjected to enforced disappearances and relatives of disappeared persons throughout the country, and met representatives of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, and lawyers. It thanks all stakeholders met, and in particular the survivors of enforced disappearances and the relatives of disappeared persons who shared their testimonies with the Working Group. 8. The Working Group received information from the Government, victims and civil society organizations, and held discussions with all stakeholders on the measures to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances, as well as issues relating to truth, justice and reparation for victims. 9. The Working Group visited Kyiv, Mariupol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kramatorsk and Pokrovsk. Unfortunately, it was not able to visit Crimea in the context of its country visit to Ukraine, although it received information relevant to the present report from several stakeholders. 10. The experts wish to emphasize that the politicization of humanitarian issues resulting from the armed conflict has a direct and severe impact on the human rights of victims of enforced disappearances, including the right to truth, justice and adequate reparation. Decisive measures have to be taken to assist family members who are looking for their loved ones, to identify and punish perpetrators and to provide reparation and psychosocial assistance to all affected victims. 11. There is almost total impunity for acts of enforced disappearances on both sides of the contact line, mainly due to a lack of interest and political will. In Kyiv as well as in the territory controlled by the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic”, the Working Group perceived little interest in pursuing cases unless the perpetrator was identified as someone supporting the opposite side. Bringing to justice anyone from one’s own side appears to be perceived as “unpatriotic”. 12. In the present report, the Working Group also describes a number of developments between June 2018, when the visit was conducted, and the submission of the report to the Human Rights Council. 4