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The present report is submitted pursuant to the request contained in the statement by the President of the Security Council of 21 September 2018 (S/PRST/2018/18). It also responds to the Council’s requests for reporting on the protection of medical care and on conflict and food insecurity, contained in resolutions 2286 (2016) and 2417 (2018), respectively.

Since its deployment in March 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) has monitored, publicly reported and advocated on the human rights situation in Ukraine. This briefing note emphasizes the need to ensure justice for the 48 people who lost their lives and for the estimated 247 people who sustained injuries on 2 May 2014 in Odesa during the clashes between two groups holding differing views about the state structure of Ukraine. The 2 May 2014 events can be divided into two incidents: (i) the unrest in the city centre during which six men were shot dead, and (ii) the unrest in Kulykove Pole square followed by the fire in the House of Trade Unions, which claimed the lives of 42 people.

This twenty-fifth report on the situation of human rights in Ukraine by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), and covers the period from 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019.

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.

This briefing note summarizes the developments in investigations and prosecutions of the killings and violent deaths 98 individuals (96 men, including one boy, and two women) during Maidan protests and offers recommendations to address shortcomings in administering justice for these crimes.