Civic space

This report is based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. It covers the period from 1 November 2019 to 31 October 2021 and provides a brief overview of the situation concerning civic space, including freedoms of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the situation of human rights defenders in territory controlled by the Government, territory controlled by self-proclaimed ‘Luhansk peoples republic’ and ‘Donetsk peoples republic’ and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, occupied by the Russian Federation. 

Since early 2018, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been paying particular attention to the issue of civic space and fundamental freedoms in Ukraine. OHCHR notes a lack of accountability in most of the documented cases of attacks against journalists and other media professionals, civic and political activists, and defence lawyers. As long as such impunity remains unaddressed, space for the promotion and protection of fundamental freedoms is at risk.