A/HRC/44/53/Add.1 and gender diverse persons, beat them up, humiliate them, film the event and extort them or upload footage to the Internet. 35. Members of the extreme right-wing groups (such as C14, Right Sector, National Corps, Tradition and Order, Katekhon, Carpathian Sich and others) have consistently tried to disrupt or prevent lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse events, public assemblies, educational and commemorative events and, most recently, even private meetings targeted to specific audiences, often resorting to violent means. The Independent Expert is concerned that the lack of effective investigations by law enforcement officials into attacks on such events and outspoken members of the community result in impunity and fuels further violence – sending a signal that hatred and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse persons is acceptable. V. Violence A. Institutional violence 36. Non-governmental actors expressed concern at abuses by law enforcement personnel. They have recorded 96 cases since 2016, most of them related to the refusal by police and investigators to take into consideration and to record homophobic or transphobic motives of crimes or the qualification of the crimes as lesser offences, delays in investigation and homophobic and unprofessional behaviour towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse victims. Other complaints pertain to the lack of effective protection of participants in peaceful assemblies, blackmail, threats of disclosure or disclosure of confidential information by police officers, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, extortion of bribes for release and insults, threats and humiliation. 16 However, civil society actors note that, since 2016, the attitude of the reformed Ukrainian police has substantially changed and that the treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse community in the provision of services and protection has improved, in particular in Kyiv. Positive changes have been particularly striking in the management of events and peaceful demonstrations. B. Hate crimes 37. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse persons have seen a deterioration of their security situation since 2014, with an increase in the number of serious crimes committed against them, such as murder and grievous bodily harm, the use of explosives and attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse organizations and events. Equality marches and public gatherings organized by the community have been particularly targeted by extreme right-wing nationalist groups, which consistently tried to disrupt these events, often resorting to violent means.17 38. Human rights defenders, especially those working on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse persons and women’s equality, have seen a sharp surge in violent attacks against them throughout 2018.18 This trend seems, unfortunately, to have continued in 2019 with data showing that approximately 30 per cent of incidents targeting human rights defenders were committed against activists in these areas.19 39. Data collected by non-State actors for the first half of 2019 suggest a slight decrease in the violence suffered by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse persons and in attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse events, perhaps due to police 16 17 18 19 8 Nash Mir Center, Overcoming Obstacles: LGBT Situation in Ukraine in 2018 (Kyiv, 2019). Ibid. Amnesty International, “Ukraine: human rights under pressure, their advocates under attack”, public statement, 8 February 2019. See https://zmina.ua/content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/situationofhumanrightsdefendersinukraine 2020_briefen_web.pdf