Activities of the organization

The Human Rights Centre ZMINA works to protect freedom of expression, freedom of movement, combat discrimination, prevent torture and ill-treatment, and fight against impunity. We support human rights defenders and civic activists across Ukraine, including in the occupied territories, and provide protection for individuals affected by the armed conflict in Ukraine.

Our activities include public awareness campaigns, educational programs, and the monitoring and documentation of human rights violations. We produce research and analysis, and we advocate for meaningful change at both the national and international levels.

On a daily basis, Human Rights Centre ZMINA reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine through its media portal, via social media on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, as well as through other media platforms, including cooperation with the most reputable outlets in Ukraine and abroad, for which the organization’s journalists prepare exclusive original materials on human rights issues.

Over seven years of work, the organization has carried out a number of information and educational campaigns in the field of human rights. In particular, in 2013 Human Rights Centre ZMINA conducted an awareness campaign on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) as a new UN mechanism for human rights compliance and Ukraine’s participation in the UPR. In 2014-2015, an anti-discrimination campaign was developed and launched (in cooperation with the Coalition Against Discrimination in Ukraine and the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights). In 2013-2017, the organization ran a campaign on the human rights situation in places of detention and provided information support for the work of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in Ukraine. In 2016, the organization conducted a campaign against domestic violence in families of ATO participants called “The War That Does Not Let Go”, and also provided information support for investigations into human rights violations against vulnerable groups (sex workers, people with drug dependence) by law enforcement agencies. In 2017-2018, Human Rights Centre ZMINA provided information support for the development of Community Policing in Ukraine (in partnership with the National Police of Ukraine), and also ran a campaign to promote the work of human rights defenders in Ukraine. In 2018, the organization carried out an educational campaign about the Istanbul Protocol and the documentation and investigation of torture.

Between 2013 and 2018, Human Rights Centre ZMINA worked on launching and strengthening the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) — an independent body established and functioning under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture, aimed at regular monitoring of all places of detention in order to prevent ill-treatment of people held there. In particular, the organization was actively involved in the campaign against torture and ill-treatment in detention facilities and in support of the NPM, in the development of the strategic and operational plans of the NPM, mechanisms for monitoring visits, the selection, training and motivation of monitors, in building and organizing a community of civic monitors, in the creation of an online map of places of detention and their condition based on monitoring visits, as well as in the work of the Expert Council under the Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism. In addition, five employees of Human Rights Centre ZMINA are monitors who regularly participate in visits to detention facilities. In its first five years of work in Ukraine, the NPM recruited and trained almost 200 independent civic monitors from all regions of Ukraine. Together with the Ombudsman’s representatives, they visited more than 1,200 places of detention (in fact, every fourth institution), including in the combat zone in eastern Ukraine. As a result of these visits, the NPM was able to stop practices of torture and improve conditions for people in hundreds of prisons, detention centers, psychiatric hospitals, boarding schools, and other closed institutions.

After Russia’s occupation of Crimea, in cooperation with Crimean and Russian human rights defenders, the Crimea Field Mission on Human Rights (CFM) was launched — the only permanent international monitoring initiative operating in Crimea until July 2015, when it was included by the Federation Council of Russia in the so-called “patriotic stop list” — a list of organizations whose activities are considered undesirable in Russia and the territories it occupies. In a year and a half of work in Crimea, the CFM documented a large number of human rights violations and became an authoritative source of information for national authorities, the media, and international organizations. After the CFM was forced to stop its work, activities in Crimea continued, in particular documenting cases of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression, and providing assistance to local journalists, bloggers, civic activists, and grassroots initiatives. In cooperation with partners, a methodology was developed for monitoring politically motivated trials in Crimea. Between 2017 and 2018, Crimean monitors attended more than 300 court hearings in Crimean courts and documented a significant number of violations of fair trial standards in politically motivated cases, which resulted in a thematic report by an international group of experts. Responding to the international isolation of Crimea and the lack of access for international organizations to the occupied peninsula, in autumn 2018, an international human rights mission was organized, involving Human Rights Houses from Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine — the only such mission in recent years able to gain access to Crimea, gather information from primary sources, and document it.

In addition, Human Rights Centre ZMINA works on international advocacy regarding the human rights situation in Crimea, including informing international organizations about violations, organizing advocacy trips to the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe, and preparing reports and alternative submissions for international organizations. In 2016, the Head of the Board, Tetiana Pechonchyk, spoke at a UN Security Council meeting in New York (aria-formula meeting) on the situation of journalists and human rights defenders in Crimea. The organization continuously succeeds in influencing changes to UN General Assembly resolutions on the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

In 2016, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, in cooperation with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and with the support of the UN Development Programme, conducted the first comprehensive and systematic study in Ukraine on public awareness of human rights (the human rights baseline study), which included a representative survey of 2,000 adult respondents across Ukraine, as well as surveys of six expert groups — judges, police officers, civil servants, teachers, journalists, and human rights defenders (100-200 respondents in each group). To present and discuss the results, a large-scale campaign was organized both nationally and regionally (Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Odesa, Dnipro). In 2018, a follow-up study was conducted to assess changes over two years (the human rights progress study), with broad presentation and discussion at national and regional levels.

As the above-mentioned study revealed, in Ukraine the media are perceived, on the one hand, as the most effective way to protect human rights in the eyes of the public, and on the other hand, as the main source from which people learn about their rights. Therefore, an important area of work for Human Rights Centre ZMINA is human rights education for journalists. The organization conducts trainings and seminars for journalists on human rights, non-discrimination, ethical standards in covering minority and vulnerable group issues, and specifics of reporting on “places of detention”. It also organizes safety trainings for journalists and human rights defenders working in crisis regions, and provides support to raise professional standards in the fields of human rights, non-discrimination, and reporting on threats to human rights in conflict zones. In 2017-2018, the Centre organized and implemented the first human rights education program for 25 journalism professors from 20 Ukrainian universities. As a result, the professors were able to deepen their knowledge of human rights and introduce new thematic courses at their institutions. Human Rights Centre ZMINA also runs competitions for journalistic works on human rights and non-discrimination, and organizes thematic festivals for students.

The organization has been actively involved in the implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy, approved by President Petro Poroshenko in 2015. This was the first systemic document in the history of independent Ukraine aimed at integrating human rights values into different areas of state policy. The strategy was designed for five years (until 2020) with a comprehensive action plan approved by the government for its implementation. Human Rights Centre ZMINA cooperates with Ukrainian state authorities to adopt new human rights legislation, participates in meetings of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, prepares and advocates for appeals, statements, and draft decisions. Thanks to the organization’s active work, in 2018, the Law “On the Legal Status of Missing Persons” was adopted. In December 2018, in partnership with other human rights and international organizations, Human Rights Day was held in the Ukrainian parliament, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human Rights Centre ZMINA actively defends freedom of association in Ukraine and monitors the situation of human rights defenders and civic activists. In 2017-2018, together with other NGOs, it succeeded in preventing the adoption of undemocratic laws that sought to impose additional and unjustified financial reporting requirements on civil society organizations. The organization conducts campaigns and actions in support of civic activists who become victims of fabricated prosecutions, attacks, or smear campaigns.

Human Rights Centre ZMINA is a member of such coalitions, associations, and groups as: the Coalition for the Protection of Civil Society in Ukraine, the Zero Torture Initiative, the Coalition Against Discrimination in Ukraine, the “Human Rights Agenda” Platform, the Coalition to Fight Impunity for Crimes Against Humanity, the Coalition “Human Rights Group in Crimea”, the Coalition “For Children’s Rights in Ukraine”, the Civic Solidarity Platform, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, SOS-Torture Network, and the Human Rights Houses Network, in particular the Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv and the Human Rights House Crimea.

Financial support for the organization’s activities in different years has been provided by: the European Commission, UN Development Programme in Ukraine, International Renaissance Foundation, the governments of the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Switzerland, the US Department of State, OSCE, Freedom House, People in Need, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Deutsche Welle, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other donors.