Submission to the UN Committee against Torture on Ukraine’s implementation of the concluding observations following the Committee’s 82nd session

This submission was prepared by the Human Rights Centre ZMINA in cooperation with the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

It contains an assessment of Ukraine’s implementation of the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee against Torture following its consideration of Ukraine’s seventh periodic report on the implementation of its international obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The submission covers an analysis of Ukraine’s implementation of the following recommendations of the UN Committee against Torture:

• ensure that detained persons have the right to a free medical examination by an independent doctor or a doctor of their own choice, without the presence of police officers (paragraph 12(c));
• guarantee captured combatants appropriate procedural safeguards, access to medical examinations, and other rights under international humanitarian law and human rights law from the moment of capture and throughout their transfer to a place of internment (paragraph 18(a));
•  ensure the investigation and prosecution of commanders who knew or should have known about torture or ill-treatment by their subordinates and failed to take the necessary measures to prevent or investigate such acts (paragraph 18(b));
• strengthen security in places of deprivation of liberty, including through staff training, regulating the activities of internal security services, and preventing the use of special forces units inside prisons to prevent ill-treatment and intimidation of prisoners (paragraph 24(c)).

The full text of the Submission is available in English and Ukrainian.