Human rights Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Fellows eapcivilsociety.eu

Documenting Testimonies on War Crimes of Internally Displaced Persons in Ivano-Frankivsk Region

Fellowship Summary: The Fellow will use his legal background and cooperation with local officials to interview IDPs and document their war experiences and provide legal aid. He will be supported by other volunteers, who he will train and advise.

From the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ivano-Frankivsk, the hometown of the 27-years-old lawyer and PhD law student Mykola Ostapiak, became a transit hub for thousands of Ukrainians who were fleeing the war. Exhausted, disoriented and terrified, these people needed every help available, from clothing and shelter to assistance with restoring lost documents. Many of them witnessed shocking war crimes committed by Russian soldiers, and their testimonies were important to restore justice and fight Russian propaganda.

By that time, Mykola had already been working for four years at the Law Clinic of the Educational Scientific Law Institute of Precarpathian National University where he provided free legal assistance to citizens, so he immediately jumped into action

“I wanted to be useful whenever it was possible. I wanted to apply my legal knowledge and expertise to help people get compensations for the damages caused by the war, as well as to help our state authorities investigate war crimes or collect evidence”.

And the European Union’s EaP Civil Society Fellowship programme gave him the opportunity to carry out these activities on a new level. Mykola realized that every testimony was incredibly important, both for the Ukrainian investigators, prosecutors and security service, as well as for historians. He needed to act quickly as majority of internally displaced people (IDPs) stayed in Ivano-Frankivsk only for a short period of time, before going further, and memories become less detailed over time. To meet the time challenge, Mykola mobilized and trained a group of legal professionals – his co-workers from the university and the legal clinic, law students and paralegals from Postupovyy Gurt Frankivtsiv CSO – who worked with him on collecting the testimonies and providing legal assistance to IDPs.

During his 8-months Fellowship project Mykola’s team collected 221 testimonies of IDPs, including evidence of 195 attacks and damage of civil infrastructure, 47 war crimes of killing or wounding civilians, 9 instances of starvation of the civilian population, 12 cases of kidnapping, 4 instances of torture, and 88 crimes involving the seizure of property.

“In the beginning it was very hard for me and my team. Psychologically I was not ready for this, even after the training”, confesses Mykola, whose previous experience was mostly related with everyday life legal matters. “I thought I would not be able to continue because one cannot listen to those stories and remain indifferent.”

But they did continue. Their professionalism combined with compassion drove dozens of IDPs based in Ivano-Frankivsk to the legal clinic to seek help and testify the injustice and war crimes they had witnessed. Together with his team, Mykola travelled to remote cities and villages in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, to speak and help those who could not make it to town.

Mykola’s passion for his profession is rooted in his natural desire to help others. He says that people’s emotions and gratitude for help and advice is a constant reminder he is doing the right thing. Within his Fellowship project, his team also provided legal assistance to 85 IDPs, consulting them on social benefits and financial assistance, border crossing, recovery of documents, etc., and distributed 1,300 copies of the informational booklet explaining their rights as IDPs. “We had a case when a local entrepreneur was reluctant to hire an IDP. After one consultation on the state support to those employing IDPs, he not only hired the person, but was open to employ more people in the same situation”, remembers Mykola.

Despite the fact that his Fellowship project formally ended in April 2023, Mykola and his team continue their work on a volunteering basis. They joined the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition of Ukrainian and international human rights organisations aimed at protecting victims of armed Russian aggression in Ukraine and later at bringing to justice Russia’s top leadership and the perpetrators of war crimes. As of early August 2023, Mykola’s group has collected over 700 testimonies about war crimes. Most of those testimonies have been converted into formal war crimes protocols and entered into the Investigation Documentation System (I-DOC), a specially designed tool to help investigators analyse and verify testimonies and evidence to gather all the required information concerning committed war crimes and help Ukraine’s law enforcement launch trials. But some, like the story of an elderly couple from Mariupol, Oleksandr and Vira, were turned into media stories, to help counteract Russian disinformation and propaganda.

According to Mykola, the OSCE has already used some testimonies in its report, and Mykola proudly mentions the Russian government entered the 5 AM Coalition – and the Postupovyy Gurt Frankivtsiv as the coalition member – into its notorious list of ‘undesirable organisations’.

“Every story is a drop into the ocean of justice. And it will be these very stories and testimonies that will help to restore justice after the war”, concludes Mykola. “I dream of victory, of damages to be repaid to every person and – this may sound naïve – that every guilty person, not only Putin, but every soldier who committed a war crime, will be prosecuted and held accountable”.

Country	Ukraine
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Animated Video Lectures on the Rules of Documentation of War Crimes

Fellowship Summary: The Fellow will work with legal advisers to produce a series of videos to help raise awareness and educate activists interested to document war crimes. The videos will inform on methods, legal requirements, and security issues.

Updates coming soon!

Country	Ukraine
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Semi-automated System for Gathering Deficiencies in Police Investigations of Attacks on Civil Society

Maksym’s action aimed at defining the most problematic stages of police actions during the investigation of crimes against civil society in Ukraine, creating a tool gathering deficiencies in police investigations, and teaching activists how to deal with/respond to police inaction. To achieve the above objectives, Maksym established cooperation with the leading national human rights organization – Center for Civil Liberties and started data collection from the Ukrainian civil society activists, human rights defenders, and journalist persecuted for their professional activities between 2017-2019 and whose cases were either not investigated or not adequately investigated by the police. In the second stage of the project, Maksym engaged the legal experts and IT engineers to create a Telegram chatbot FightBack combining the function of a legal self-help instrument and a practical guide for those who face an attack or police inaction. Finally, the project team organized the online presentation of the bot at the premises of the Ukraine Crisis Media Center attended by the civil society representatives, lawyers, journalists, and other stakeholders.

The project raised the issue of police inaction and the necessity of reforming the law enforcement system in Ukraine. Applying the data from the first-hand sources, it delivered a bilingual publication on the deficiencies and malpractices of police investigations; the research document has been distributed among the authorities and will be used for future advocacy campaigns in Ukraine. Most importantly, the project team created a FightBack chatbot to raise awareness of the potential victims, i.e teaching them how to preserve evidence, or fill the complaints. Last but not least, the action has facilitated contacts between activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and journalists from different regions of Ukraine that will accelerate the implementation of future nationwide human rights projects.

Telegram chatbot FightBack is accessible here.

Report “Shortcomings in the law enforcement system of Ukraine exemplified by the investigation of attacks on civil activists”

Report in Ukrainian: “Недоліки правоохоронної системи України на прикладі розслідування нападів на громадських активістів”

Project in media:

Presentation of the Chatbot in English

Presentation of the Chatbot in Ukrainian

Country	Ukraine
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Enhanced Engagement of Civil Society in Monitoring of Implementation of the UN CEDAW in Ukraine

Leila’s action aimed to enhance the engagement of civil society in monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UN CEDAW) and recommendations of the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). To ensure the holistic approach to the CSO involvement in CEDAW implementation, the project covered the following aspects: Alternative reporting and individual complaints procedures (elaboration on the joint alternative report to CEDAW in collaboration with the UN Women and the NGO Monitoring Group) & educational and community outreach activities. To deliver high-quality online training on gender and human rights, Leila engaged international experts and field-professionals. Also, to inform the larger audience about the application procedure and criteria of the individual complaints to the UN Women’s Rights Committee, she developed a short educational video in Ukrainian and disseminated it throughout the country.

The project delivered 6 webinars and raised awareness and advocacy capacity of more than 130 non-governmental representatives from Ukraine, Eastern Partnership and other Eastern European and Central Asian Countries on Women’s Rights and UN CEDAW. Also, the action engaged civil society activists and international experts from Denmark, Romania, Moldova, Russia and Kyrgyzstan contributing to the development of the recommendations. In the long term, the project beneficiaries are equipped with the necessary skills to strengthen their advocacy for women’s rights by applying the UN human rights instruments, more precisely the UN CEDAW Optional Protocol. The project delivered the Joint Alternative Report to CEDAW, educational video and informational package that serves as the instrument and direction for better protection of women who are victims of gender-based discrimination.

Video on how to apply with individual complaints to UN CEDAW (in Ukrainian – “Як звернутися в Комітет CEDAW”):

Country	Ukraine
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Gender Mainstreaming in Public Security Service in Ivano-Frankivsk

Uliana’s action aimed to encourage gender mainstreaming in public security services in Ivano-Frankivsk city through monitoring and evaluation of public spaces in the city. To achieve the above objective, Uliana conducted a wide range of activities, including research, awareness-raising training, development of the online platform and community outreach. First, she developed the monitoring methodology to evaluate the safety of the public spaces. Then, Uliana researched the public places of Ivano-Frankivsk and prepared recommendations for the local authorities. Following this, she launched the development of a new web-section for the online map – Safe City to detect dangerous spaces/zones in Ivano-Frankivsk. To reach a larger audience of the city and educate them, the project team organized two online trainings on public safety. Finally, to disseminate the research findings broadly and creatively, they created a short animated video attracting the attention of hundreds of viewers on social media.

The project delivered the monitoring methodology and evaluation report on safety of Ivano-Frankivsk public spaces from a gender perspective; the research applied a participatory approach and informed the decision-makers about the issue through the list of recommendations. Also, the online map – Safe City developed within the action increased visibility of dangerous/safe public places, since any visitor is able to mark any place of the city. Therefore, two training reached 102 applicants and engaged 39 participants; the trainers – Natalia Tarasenko and Olena Ostapchuk discussed gender-sensitive urban planning and shared the case studies of the successful and unsuccessful solutions for public spaces, schools, kindergartens, youth clubs, parking lots, etc; they also covered the topic of safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, the public presentation and animated video summarizing the research deliverables raised awareness of the 8k stakeholders through Facebook, YouTube and other social media channels.

Monitoring Methodology to Evaluate the Safety of the Public Spaces (in Ukrainian):

Report of the Evaluation Results (in Ukrainian):

Project in media:

Як і навіщо робити громадські простори ґендерно безпечними?, Interview with Uliana Sydor in Hmarochos Media.

Country	Ukraine
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Promoting Direct Democracy for Strengthening Human Rights in Armenia

The action: Promoting Direct Democracy for Strengthening Human Rights in Armenia aimed to monitor the implementation of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights and its Implementation Action Plan (2020-2022). The project engaged local authorities, public officials, lawyers, young activists, civil society representatives, and watchdog organizations. At the beginning of the project, Syuzanna researched the Swedish and Georgian experience in CSO engagement in policy making and effective monitoring of policy implementation. Then, she organized 4 awareness-raising workshops for the public officials from state and local government bodies, lawyers, CSOs and other interested stakeholders from 3 regions and Yerevan. The seminars were followed by the national youth conference: The RA National Strategy on Human Rights Protection: Challenges and Perspectives engaging young professionals in discourse. Afterwards, Syuzanna conducted online in-depth interviews and focus groups with the field experts to identify the possible gaps in the strategy and produce the monitoring report. Finally, she organized the CSO-Government Dialogue Conference to discuss the report findings and proposed amendments in the National Strategy.

The project delivered the evidence-based monitoring report and recommendations to the Republic of Armenia tailored to the National Strategy and Human Rights protection. The research ensured the accountability of the RA Government and the Ministry of Justice in the sector of human rights. The final conference facilitated the Public-State consensus on the various issues, including the necessity to amend the RA National Strategy. The majority of the recommendations were taken into account by the Government and the process to amend the National Strategy was about to start as of the end of the Fellowship.

The seminars and workshops raised awareness of 157 young professionals from the civic and legal sectors. Then, the youth conference engaged 21 researchers, out of whom 11 produced a research paper on the National Strategy. The events engaged the high-level officials, including the Human Rights Defender and Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia, and the EU-Delegation representatives to Armenia.

Evidence-based Monitoring of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights and its Implementation Action Plan for 2020-2022

Project in media:

Country	Armenia
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PROVIDNYK – Interactive Map for People with Mobility Limitations

The PROVIDNYK Action aimed to improve the quality of life of Ukrainians with limited mobility by contributing to the development of accessible infrastructure in their hometowns. The project was implemented in several stages. First, the project team tested and fixed the defect of route planning features for the PROVIDNYK platform. PROVIDNYK is an interactive map tailored to people with mobility limitations to help them navigate in the cities of Ukraine, review the accessibility of places and send automatic complaints (requests) to governmental bodies. In the second stage of the project, the team developed the Users’ Rating and Gamification Feature to the map to increase the users’ engagement and data contribution. Following this, Pavel expanded the map coverage in the additional 3 cities of Ukraine (Vinnytsia, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia). The development of the inclusive map was followed by an online promotion campaign to cover more potential users. Finally, the project team conducted the Online Kyiv Inclusive Roundtable involving the stakeholders from business and governmental sector, as well as civil society activists, and live-streamed the event in Zoom & YouTube.

The project developed and launched two advanced PROVIDNYK features – Route Planning and Users’ Rating & Gamification. As of 30 November 2020, Version 2.0 of the PROVIDNYK map has been successfully covering three additional cities of Ukraine – Vinnytsia, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia; the registered users from those cities already mapped and rated 722 objects (places) on the web-platform. The online visibility campaign and roundtable reached more than 371,000 people and raised public awareness regarding problems of employment of people with disabilities and the creation of a barrier-free infrastructure; Over 80 participants joined/watched live discussion of the Online Kyiv Inclusive Roundtable. On top of that, the implementation of the PROVIDNYK Action has contributed to consolidating the efforts of civil society, state, business, and the public in building an inclusive society in Ukraine.

Online Kyiv Inclusivity Roundtable | 20.11.2020 (in Ukrainian):

Country	Ukraine
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Stop Bullying/Cyberbullying in Schools

The action aimed to tackle bullying/cyberbullying in schools of Cantemir district. To raise the issue on top of the agenda, Victoria undertook a special course in Italy specifically tailored to bullying and then, delivered training for teachers and school management in her region. More precisely, she trained the Principals, Vice-Principals, and the Presidents of the Student Council from all the gymnasiums of Cantemir district on the phenomenon of bullying and its mitigation measures. To minimize the violence at schools, Victoria engaged the local District Board of Education in the project. On top of that, the action held the anti-bullying and anti-violence campaign at 3+2 schools with the highest rate of bullying cases in Cantemir district.

The project raised awareness of approximately 100 School Managers (School Principals, Vice-Principals and Presidents of the Student Council) and more than 1,200 pupils on bullying and its prevention. The workshops facilitated discussions and dialogue between teachers and students. Therefore, the recommendations sent to the local District Board of Education brought the government bodies into the discourse of tackling violence at the middle educational institutions. Thus, as a result of the anti-bullying campaign, five schools exhibited 20 motivational posters promoting kindness and respect for each other. The action built the capacity of Victoria since she had an opportunity to travel to Italy and raise her qualification in the issue.

Project in media:

Fenomenul “Bullying-ului în școli” studiat în raionul Cantemir

Country	Moldova
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Strong Women – Strong Family

The project Strong Women – Strong Family aimed to empower women in IDP (internally displaced people) communities of Azerbaijan residing at the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict line through awareness-raising activities. The first training on entrepreneurship was launched in the region of Terter and engaged 17 middle-aged women; the leading business mentors shared their expertise in managing microfinance loans and accounting in general. Following this, the second capacity-building training was held in Barda and involved 32 women from the local villages; the invited consultants delivered training on the state grants for the rural women and encouraged them to start or extend their businesses. Finally, the third workshop was conducted in Aghdam and engaged 21 women from the local settlements; the training included the presentation of success stories and information on micro-financing opportunities available in Azerbaijan.

The action empowered approximately 70 women from IDP communities of Azerbaijan through entrepreneurial and capacity-building training in Agdam, Barda, and Tartar (300 km westward from the capital Baku and close to the “line of contact”). The workshops enhanced the financial literacy of the IPD women and boosted their confidence in implementing their own initiatives. Also, the training contributed to tackling stereotypes about the social roles of women living in the IDP communities. Following this, the special training in microfinance, loan management and credit culture served played a crucial role in developing a business mindset in the target-audience and teaching them the best ways to access and manage finances.

Country	Azerbaijan
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Ability Beyond Disability

The action was an awareness-raising project involving various Ukrainian non-governmental organizations. Through two-days long seminars and several short sessions, Viktoria shared her knowledge and experience in strategic development with the young people at Lviv Educational Foundation. Therefore, she organized an inclusive space within the frame of the Lviv Urban Workshop, where the hosts presented different activities on the topics of disability, inclusion, and accessibility. The event lasted for 4 days and included the exhibition of interactive materials, such as writing in Braille, playing inclusive chess, cycling on tandem bikes with eyes closed, etc. The highlight of the latter event was an Inclusive excursion around Lviv City. Besides, Viktoria initiated a Cycling Marathon with the participation of blind people that required fundraising and planning for three months. Apart from helping other people, the fellowship gave Viktoriya the opportunity to build-capacity for herself; the award enabled her to participate in the international three-day workshops on Art of Participatory Leadership in Denmark and The Art of Hosting Societal Innovation in the Netherlands.

The project reached more than 100+ young beneficiaries of the Lviv Educational Foundation and trained them in strategic development. Hence, the action raised public awareness of the major challenges faced by people with disabilities (PwDs) through discussions, interactive sessions, and exhibitions. Victoria’s 3-month long wholehearted attempt to organize the Tandem Cycling Marathon with the participation of blind people has paid off, as she managed to receive additional financial support from the US Embassy in Ukraine and made this idea possible. Thus, Victoria herself enhanced her personal and professional skills through learning facilitation tools about the Art of Hosting from the professionals in Denmark and the Netherlands.

Country	Ukraine
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