Representatives of the Center for Civil Liberties met the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe

On 18 March, an important meeting of representatives of non-government organisations with Michael O’Flaherty, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, took place in Kyiv. Challenges and opportunities for human rights protection in Ukraine, specifically in the context of war crimes and violations accompanying the war, were the central topic of the discussion.

The Center for Civil Liberties was represented at the meeting by Mykhailo Savva, a Member of the Organisation’s Expert Council, and Nataliia Yashchuk, Senior War Consequences Officer. They outlined the key challenges faced by Ukrainians, in particular, the following:

• Torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian war prisoners and civilians
• Unlawful detention and imprisonment of peaceful civilians in the temporarily occupied territories
• Council of Europe’s cooperation with Ukrainian human rights defenders in matters of European integration.

“The discussion was exceptionally frank and to the point. The Commissioner for Human Rights received several papers produced by the Center for Civil Liberties to work upon”, the Organisation’s representatives pointed out. This meeting was an important step in enhancing dialogue between the Ukrainian human rights activists and international institutions capable of playing a key role in protecting human rights in times of war and in the course of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.