Side-event “Torture in Ukraine Between Reform and Impunity”

OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2018

Sofitel Victoria Warsaw Królewska St. 11 00-065 Warsaw, Poland

Date: 17 September

Room: Meeting Room 3

Time: 08:15 – 09:45

In 2014, Ukraine found itself in a situation of armed conflict and simultaneously began the process of reform. During this time, the new bodies were created, namely the National Police and the State Investigation Bureau. The State Penitentiary Service was liquidated. The laws and structure of the law enforcement bodies have changed, which supposedly was to improve the human rights situation. At the same time, the military conflict has exacerbated the problem of violence and impunity and made a part of society doubt that the prohibition of torture is absolute.

The experts of the new initiative, ZERO Torture, will tell how these factors affect the scope of torture, about successful and failing practices, about specific risks in the occupied territory, as well as steps which Ukraine is taking and could take to counter the torture.

Speakers:

Yevhen Krapyvin, expert of Association of Ukrainian human rights monitors on Law Enforcement

Yuriy Belousov, Executive Director of the Expert Center for Human Rights

Nikolai Polozov, human rights lawyer

Marharyta Tarasova, Project Coordinator of the Human Rights Information Center

Organizer: ZERO Torture Initiative (Ukraine)

Event languages: Russian, English