A/HRC/40/CRP.3
on 17 January 2019, the Parliament adopted amendments setting out a procedure for
voluntary change of denomination by religious communities. 112
D.
Discrimination, hate speech, racially-motivated violence and
manifestations of intolerance
92.
OHCHR continued documenting violations related to discrimination, hate speech
and/or violence, targeting members of minority groups or those holding alternative or
minority opinions. Among two incidents documented that occurred during the reporting
period, one involved threats and another direct violence by members of extreme right-wing
groups. The failure of the law enforcement to prevent violence, to properly classify these
violations as hate crimes, and to effectively investigate and prosecute these crimes violates
the right to non-discrimination and creates an environment of impunity. It also denies
victims of these attacks equal access to justice.
93.
Investigations and prosecution of several attacks against Roma people still lack
progress.113 Positively, on 28 December 2018, prosecutors of the Lviv Regional
Prosecutor’s Office charged a man responsible for the killing of a young Roma man outside
Lviv in June 2018.114 In contrast, the Holosiivsky district court of Kyiv cancelled on
procedural grounds the note of suspicion against an alleged perpetrator in another violent
attack against a Roma settlement in Kyiv in April 2018.115
94.
OHCHR documented the case of a prisoner with pro-Ukrainian views, who served
his sentence in a penal colony in territory controlled by ‘Luhansk people’s republic’
between 2014 and 2018. The prisoner had conflicts with the colony administration for his
political views and speaking Ukrainian. The colony administration staff reportedly forced
the prisoner “to drop his nationalistic views”, threatened and beat him. In 2016, the colony
guards allegedly beat him with batons as ordered by the colony head. After this incident,
the prisoner was held in the isolation cell for a year. He said that as a result of his longlasting intimidation and ill-treatment, he tried to commit suicide in December 2017.116
VII. Human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and
the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, temporarily occupied by the
Russian Federation
95.
The overall human rights situation in Crimea continued to be marked by restrictions
in the exercise of fundamental freedoms and the lack of effective remedies to seek justice.
In addition, the continuing failure of the Russian Federation to acknowledge its status as an
occupying power in Crimea has resulted in further violations of international humanitarian
law committed by its State actors during the reporting period, failing to recognize and
ensure obligations related to applicable occupation law.
96.
OHCHR continued to record human rights violations, including restrictions on
freedoms of opinion, expression, and religion or belief, and violations of international
humanitarian law in Crimea. In total, OHCHR documented 38 violations during the
reporting period, and of this number 25 violations occurred within the reporting period;
112
113
114
115
116
24
According to the law, a decision to change subordination is made by two thirds of the community’s
quorum. The amendments reaffirm the principle of religious communities’ independent determination
of their membership and establish a moratorium on sale or other transfer of the religious community’s
property until the registration process is completed.
See OHCHR Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 16 May to 15 August 2018, para. 91.
See OHCHR Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 16 August to 15 November 2018, para
82.
On 25 February, the Kyiv court of appeal will hear the prosecutors’ appeal of the Holosiivsky district
court decision to cancel the notice of suspicion to the alleged perpetrator.
OHCHR interviews, 18 December 2018.
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