ZMINA participated in the presentation of the Ombudsman’s Annual Report on the State of Human Rights in 2025 held in Kharkiv

On 3 June 2026, Kharkiv hosted the presentation of the Annual Report of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights on Observance and Protection of Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms in Ukraine in 2025. The event brought together Members of Parliament, representatives of state authorities, local self-government bodies, law enforcement agencies, civil society organisations, and the human rights community.

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, opened the event and stressed that, despite the challenges posed by the war, ensuring human rights and freedoms remains one of the state’s key responsibilities. In 2025, the Office of the Commissioner focused its work on nine main areas. These included the protection of the rights of children, service members, veterans, prisoners of war, persons subject to military service, civilians unlawfully detained by the Russian Federation, internally displaced persons, and other citizens affected by the war who have lost their homes, loved ones, or sense of security.

Attention was also paid to the rights of older persons, persons with disabilities, representatives of national minorities (communities), religious organisations, as well as to ensuring the right to information and the right to a fair trial.

Another important area of work was the implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) through monitoring visits to places of detention and oversight of the rights of individuals held there. In addition, the Office of the Commissioner actively engaged in the field of European integration, emphasising that Ukraine’s path towards membership in the European Union is inseparable from high standards of human rights protection and respect for human dignity.

Maryna Demura, an expert at the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, also took part in the event. During her remarks, she highlighted the specific challenges of implementing the National Preventive Mechanism in the context of the full-scale war. According to her, despite security risks and restrictions related to martial law, NPM monitors continued to carry out regular visits to places of detention, document human rights violations, and promote the implementation of recommendations aimed at addressing them.

In particular, in 2025, NPM monitors conducted 626 visits to various places of detention under the authority of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, and other government bodies.

Maryna Demura also stressed the need to strengthen the institutional capacity of the NPM and ensure the proper implementation of recommendations issued following monitoring visits.

As a reminder, the Annual Report of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in 2025 was presented to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and contains the results of the Ombudsman’s Office’s monitoring, human rights, and legislative activities over the past year. In 2025, the Commissioner received more than 152,000 appeals from citizens, representing a 24% increase compared to 2024.

Photos provided by the event organizers.