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Resolution 2067 (2015)
Missing persons during the conflict in Ukraine
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is seriously
concerned about the growing number of missing persons reported in
the zones where military operations are under way in certain areas
of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, as well as in occupied
Crimea.
2. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine,
in early 2014, more than 1 300 persons have been reported missing.
This figure, which only takes into account data collected by the
Ukrainian authorities, is in reality certainly higher. Among the
missing persons are not only soldiers, but also civilians, including volunteers
who were helping victims of the conflict. Their fate and whereabouts
are unknown and difficult to determine as their most likely location
is in the territory which remains under the control of separatist
groups.
3. The Assembly welcomes the efforts undertaken by the Ukrainian
authorities with a view to determining the fate and whereabouts
of missing persons. In particular, it commends the establishment
of an Interagency Centre for Assistance in the Release of Captives
and Hostages and the Search for Missing Persons under the responsibility
of the State Security Service and the creation of a unified register
of pretrial investigations (including a database of DNA samples
of unidentified bodies and the relatives of missing persons) within
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which have significantly facilitated
the identification procedure of missing persons.
4. The Assembly deplores the decision of the President of the
Russian Federation to classify information on casualties among the
personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation incurred
in special operations during peacetime.
5. At the same time, the Assembly considers that the issue of
missing persons requires a more comprehensive approach at governmental
level and should include the co-ordination of the work of various volunteer
and human rights organisations with regard to tracing and collecting
information on missing persons. Furthermore, the medical, social
and financial assistance offered to the families of missing persons
is largely insufficient.
6. The Assembly emphasises that the problem of missing persons
can only be solved through the joint efforts of all sides of the
conflict. The Assembly therefore urges Ukraine, the Russian Federation
and the separatist groups controlling the occupied territories of
Donetsk and Luhansk region to:
6.1. provide
an efficient response, in terms of investigation and support for
families, to all reported cases of missing persons, in compliance
with international humanitarian law;
6.2. share information on the fate and whereabouts of missing
persons and return unidentified bodies, where appropriate, to the
respective sides of the conflict;
6.3. establish a joint mechanism (working group) to deal with
the issue of missing persons, and ensure its functioning, with a
view to:
6.3.1. collecting and processing information on
missing persons;
6.3.2. creating a consolidated list of missing persons;
6.3.3. introducing effective measures enabling tracing, recovery
and identification of the human remains;
6.3.4. ensuring access to burial places;
6.3.5. providing exhaustive information to the relatives of missing
persons on the progress on their cases;
6.3.6. involving and co-ordinating action of non-governmental
and volunteer organisations dealing with tracing missing persons;
6.4. systematically collect post-mortem data from unidentified
bodies, as well as DNA samples from the families of missing persons;
6.5. accelerate the process of identification of exhumed bodies
using all available means, including DNA matching, the matching
of ante and post-mortem data and visual identification, as determined
by forensic experts;
6.6. provide financial, medical and social assistance to the
families of missing persons;
6.7. facilitate access and the work of civil society and international
humanitarian organisations tracing missing persons;
6.8. encourage the mass media to attract public attention to
the problem of missing persons.
7. The Assembly further urges the Ukrainian authorities to:
7.1. create a dedicated governmental
mechanism, tasked with the co-ordination of the work of all governmental
and non-governmental bodies working on the issue of missing persons,
and in particular to:
7.1.1. ensure sufficient budgetary
funds for the functioning of the mechanism;
7.1.2. create and maintain a unified data register with regard
to persons reported missing during the conflict in Ukraine;
7.1.3. provide adequate funding for tracing operations;
7.1.4. set up a mechanism of State compensation and support to
the families of missing persons and ensure that the families concerned
are informed about the existence of this mechanism;
7.1.5. include in its work non-governmental organisations, volunteer
associations and representatives of the families of missing persons;
7.2. introduce into the legislation a provision ensuring the
right of families to know what has happened to relatives who remain
unaccounted for in connection with armed conflicts and internal
violence, in compliance with the relevant provisions of international
humanitarian law;
7.3. strengthen legal measures dealing with the problem of
missing persons, in particular to consider the adoption of a specific
law on missing persons which would introduce a legal status of “missing person”
and “war victim”, allowing the families concerned to benefit from
financial, social and legal assistance, including a mechanism of
State compensation;
7.4. address the needs of single heads of families of missing
persons, taking into consideration specific needs of women and children;
7.5. further develop national capacities in forensic and tracing
expertise and encourage those who work in these fields to assimilate
the experience of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in
this respect;
7.6. provide adequate legal and awareness-raising training
for all officials concerned with regard to the implementation of
legal provisions and administrative procedures when addressing the
rights of the families of missing persons.
8. The Assembly urges the separatist groups which control the
occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to:
8.1. release all prisoners and hostages;
8.2. engage effectively with the work of appropriate working
subgroups of the Trilateral Contact Group in accordance with the
Minsk Agreements, with a view to dealing with the issues of captured
and missing persons and identifying possible grave sites;
8.3. grant access for international humanitarian missions to
places of detention of prisoners.
9. The Assembly further urges the authorities of the Russian
Federation to:
9.1. release all
prisoners illegally captured in Ukrainian territory;
9.2. conduct an effective investigation and prosecute perpetrators
in cases of abduction, enforced disappearances, torture and politically
motivated killings of Ukrainian activists and members of the Crimean
Tatar community;
9.3. exercise pressure over the separatist groups which control
the occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions for
the immediate release of all civilians held in custody on the territory
under their control and for the exchange of prisoners;
9.4. create a national mechanism to deal with the issues of
captured and missing persons during the conflict in Ukraine;
9.5. provide the families of missing Russian soldiers with
accurate information on the fate and whereabouts of their missing
relatives;
9.6. immediately grant access to the territory of occupied
Crimea to international human rights monitoring missions.
10. The Assembly also calls on the member States to provide:
10.1. financial and technical assistance
to the Ukrainian authorities responsible for exhumation and the identification
process;
10.2. necessary assistance to deal with the psychological effects
on the families of missing persons;
10.3. financial assistance to the associations of families of
missing persons and non-governmental organisations tracing missing
persons.
11. The Assembly encourages the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) to make available their expertise to Ukrainian
institutions, in particular in:
11.1. training
national specialists in the documentation of missing cases, the
consolidation of lists and the assessment of and response to the
needs of the families;
11.2. providing technical assistance, in particular in setting
up the DNA laboratory in Dnipropetrovsk and supplying reagents for
the DNA tests;
11.3. informing the Ukrainian population about the main aspects
of international humanitarian law.
12. The Assembly invites the Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights to follow the problem of missing persons during the
conflict in Ukraine.