Articles

14 March 2023

Terror, disappearances and mass deportation

On 1 March 2023, Yevhen Zakharov, director of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG), addressed the European Parliament’s sub-committee on human rights, and described the fate of Ukraine’s citizens in territories now occupied by Russia. This is an updated version of his address.
24 February 2023

For the anniversary of the invasion. Results

One year ago, Russia launched a massive invasion of Ukraine. The 'hybrid warfare' of the previous eight years became a full-blown aggressive war on a scale unseen in Europe since 1939. A statement by International Memorial.
24 February 2023

Ukraine: Justice for the most serious crimes will promote international peace and security

FIDH and its members worldwide call on international institutions and governments to ramp up efforts to ensure justice in Ukraine as a means of promoting international peace and security.
24 February 2023

A Year at War: the Prospects for our Victory

On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion: An Appeal by the “First of December Action Group”.
23 February 2023

Russia has not stopped killing and wounding Ukraine’s civilians

As Ukraine awaited a new invasion, Russia continued to shell and bomb its villages, towns and cities. On Monday 9 January 2023, for instance, bombs and shells took civilian lives in the city of Kherson and in the Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk Regions, wounding people there and in the Mykolaiv Region further to the west.
15 February 2023

The murder and rape of civilians was a deliberate policy, says SBU

Last month, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) published yet another intercepted phone call. They recorded a conversation between Russian soldiers about the war crimes they committed, and why.
22 January 2023

Helping people and gathering evidence: the KHPG in 2022

KHPG director Yevhen Zakharov recalls the challenges of 2022 and shows that the work of human rights defenders is also indispensable in wartime.
20 January 2023

War stories will be heard in nine languages — Memorial’s project

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group and Memorial organizations in the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Italy, and Germany to publish personal war stories of Ukrainians, 4-5 monthly.
28 December 2022

Homes and lives destroyed in northern Ukraine

The Russian invader left the Chernihiv Region (northwest Ukraine) six months ago. A team of lawyers and monitors from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group went there to talk to the locals.
28 December 2022

Ukraine must ratify the Rome Statute now, says Nobel laureate

Ukraine signed the Rome Statute as long ago as 20 January 2000. It must ratify it as soon as possible, says Oleksandra Matviichuk, joint winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
12 December 2022

Goodness and truth must be able to protect themselves: Nobel Lecture by Ales Bialiatski

Nobel Lecture given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022 Ales Bialiatski, delivered by Natallia Pinchuk, Oslo, 10 December 2022.
12 December 2022

Peace, memory, freedom: Nobel Lecture by Memorial

Nobel Lecture given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022 Memorial, delivered by Jan Rachinsky, Oslo, 10 December 2022.
12 December 2022

Time to take responsibility: Nobel Lecture by Center for Civil Liberties

Nobel Lecture given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022 Center for Civil Liberties, delivered by Oleksandra Matviichuk, Oslo, 10 December 2022.
10 December 2022

Stolen washing machines, phosphorus bombs and abandoned Russian corpses

“How could a person in his right mind do such things?” (Alla Korzurina) The six-month nightmare endured by a village near Kharkiv, used first as a base and then as a target by Russian forces.
02 December 2022

The Russians “amused themselves”, destroying Izyum’s old buildings

Serhiy was hit by a cluster bomb and had to crawl to the nearest house for help. Russian forces were shelling a town they already occupied, of that he is convinced.
17 November 2022

Bodies of 63 Ukrainians tortured by Russians already found in liberated Kherson Region

11 places have already been found in liberated parts of Kherson Region, where the Russian occupiers held Ukrainian civilians prisoner.
16 November 2022

Vasylenkove, a village on the frontline

Ukrainian soldiers were based only five kilometres away. Russian troops dug trenches around the houses and set up their artillery unit at the school. Little now remains of the school: empty cans and shell casings are scattered over its charred remains.
08 November 2022

Russia takes Ukrainian children prisoner in 'first wave of deportation'

As feared, Russia and its local collaborators are refusing to return Ukrainian children who were supposedly sent on holiday or to study in Russia or occupied Crimea.
03 November 2022

Attacks on distribution of humanitarian aid and on evacuation convoys

Russian forces have frequently attacked the distribution of humanitarian aid and evacuation convoys, seizing the aid and the transport sent to evacuate civilians.
14 October 2022

On receiving the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize: A statement by Memorial

A State that neglects the human rights of its citizens inevitably becomes a threat to peace.
14 October 2022

“For Our Freedom and for Yours!” Oleksandra Matviichuk, Centre for Civil Liberties (Kyiv)

“My entire 20-year experience of fighting for freedom and human rights has convinced me that people exercise a far greater influence that they ever realise. All our achievements are down to them”. Speech at a press conference about the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
22 September 2022

The War in Ukraine and Crimes Against the Environment: Conference resolutions

In early July, a conference was held in West Ukraine concerning “The impact of military operations in Ukraine on the environment and human rights: a challenge to humanity” (4−6 July 2022).
16 September 2022

Vovchansk Engineering Works: Dungeons on the Chechen Model

On Sunday, 11 September, Vovchansk was one of dozens of towns and villages liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. A month ago, Iryna Skachko described the use to which its largest factory was put during months of enemy occupation.