Overview of human rights violations committed by the Russian Federation in the occupied territories of Ukraine in December 2022 (based on open sources)

Written by: Mariia Panchenko

Project team: Olha Opalenko, Mykyta Biliakov, Nataliia Kaplun, Inna Krat, Oleksandr Leonov, Pavlo Shvab

1. The context of human rights violations in the occupied territories of Ukraine. 

On February 24, 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was a continuation and escalation of the international armed conflict that has been going on between Russia and Ukraine since 2014. As a result of the new intensified attack, in addition to the previously occupied regions of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russia managed to occupy other territories of Ukraine, including parts of the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv regions and some settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that had not been occupied before. During the hostilities, the Ukrainian armed forces liberated Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, part of the Kherson, and almost all of the Kharkiv regions; other territories are still under Russian occupation. 

2. Human Rights during armed conflict and international legal obligations of the Russian Federation

During an armed conflict, the legal regime of international humanitarian law (hereinafter referred to as IHL) applies. It defines the rules of war and, among other things, the rules of treatment of protected categories of persons, including the civilian population of the occupied territories. During an armed conflict, IHL, as a lex specialis, prevails over international human rights law (hereinafter – IHRL). However, the IHRL regime mustn’t cease to operate. It is applied in parallel to IHL and continues to protect individuals from abuse or arbitrary exercise of power by state representatives even during the war, although with some limitations. 

According to the principle of extraterritorial jurisdiction, a state is responsible for human rights violations by its representatives in any territory over which it has effective control, even if that territory is outside its internationally recognized national borders. Thus, Russia is responsible for human rights violations by its representatives in the occupied territories of Ukraine. 

Most recently, Russia was a party to the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the ECHR or the Convention) and thus was subject to the jurisdiction of the ECtHR, which, according to the ECHR, is empowered to consider individual and inter-state applications alleging human rights violations by a State party. However, the Russian Federation withdrew from the Council of Europe on March 16, 2022, and ceased to be a party to the Convention. After September 16, 2022, the ECHR no longer has the legal authority to hold Russia accountable for human rights violations. In other words, Russia has de facto ceased to be part of the European human rights protection system, which has created a legal vacuum: Russian representatives continue to commit human rights violations, but there are no longer any tools to bring them to justice.

However, this does not exempt Russia from its obligations under the IHRL. Firstly, human rights are universally recognized as jus cogens and erga omnes norms, which makes them part of customary international law. In other words, they are universal and binding on any member of the international community, regardless of the presence or absence of obligations under treaty law. Secondly, Russia also has treaty obligations in the field of human rights, as it is a party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and a party to the vast majority of the main UN conventions protecting human rights, in particular, the following:

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 (hereinafter – the ICCPR);
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966;
• The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965;
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979;
• The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984;
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989;
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006.

To implement each of these international documents, a UN treaty-based quasi-judicial body was established to record violations of the rights of persons under the jurisdiction of a state party. Although the decisions of these bodies are advisory and inferior to the force of ECHR judgments, they can be one of the levers of influence on Russia.

Despite its numerous human rights obligations, during the more than nine years of the armed conflict – and especially after February 24, 2022 – there has not been a single rule or prohibition of the IHRL and IHL that Russia has not violated, demonstrating a blatant disregard and complete disrespect for the international legal order and international law. 

3. Human rights violations in the occupied territories in December 2022

The parts of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation remain restricted from access by national and international institutions and organizations studying human rights. Under such conditions, data from social networks, media, etc., is a valuable source of information about everything that happens in these territories.

For a long time, Vostok SOS experts have been monitoring open sources and, based on the information collected, recording human rights violations committed by representatives of the Russian Federation in the occupied territories and publishing monthly reports on the violations. 

This report provides an overview of human rights violations committed in the occupied territories of Ukraine in December 2022.

It is important that since the spring of 2022, the number of such violations has not decreased, and the occupying power has not shown any positive dynamics concerning human rights. Representatives of the Russian Federation and its occupation administrations continue to abuse power in the territories of Ukraine temporarily under their control, humiliating the dignity and causing significant harm to the health and well-being of civilians. 

The data collected and presented in this report does not claim to be comprehensive and represents only a small percentage of all human rights violations committed in the occupied territories. 

1. Number and types of human rights violations 

In December 2022, Vostok SOS monitors identified 87 cases of human rights violations in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Most violations were recorded in the Kherson region – 35 and the Zaporizhzhia region – 31. The numbers are lower in other regions: Luhansk region – 13 cases; Crimea and Donetsk region – 4 cases in each region.   

The most frequently violated right this month was the right to property – 40 cases, 17 of which were in the Kherson region; 12 – in the Zaporizhzhia region; 8 – in the Luhansk region; 2 – in the Donetsk region, and 1 case in Crimea. 

Other common types of violations in the occupied territories in December 2022 include the following:

• the right to liberty and security of person – 33 such cases were recorded in December: 14 – in the Kherson region; 13 – in the Zaporizhzhia region; 4 – in the Luhansk region, and one case each in the Donetsk region and Crimea;
• prohibition of torture – a total of 5 cases: 2 in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea; 1 case in the Luhansk region;
• right to life – 6 cases: 4 – Kherson region; 1 – Zaporizhzhia region; 1 – Donetsk region;
• freedom of thought, conscience, and religion – 3 cases, Zaporizhzhia region.

2. Examples of human rights violations in the occupied territories

The right to property

The most widespread human rights violation in the occupied territories in December 2022 was the violation of the right to property. The Russian military, representatives of the local occupation administrations, and members of the L/DPR paramilitary groups systematically misappropriated or destroyed residents’ property.

In December 2022, most such cases were recorded in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. First, residents complain about the arbitrary appropriation of their property. In particular, in the village of Ivanivka and Hola Prystan in the Kherson region, Russian military personnel have illegally moved into civilian apartments and houses and are using their property. In the Kakhovka district, the Russian military moved into houses from which the owners had been evicted the day before. In the city of Skadovsk, Kherson region, the occupation authorities are sealing empty apartments, even those of residents who were temporarily out of the house at the time of the raids.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, particularly in Prymorsk, the Russian military is taking away the property of people who have left the occupied territory. In Melitopol, representatives of the occupation administration are massively evicting people from their homes and even writing “laws” to make the arbitrary seizure of property more accessible. Also, in the village of Myrne near Melitopol, the practice of forcing residents, especially owners of three-room apartments, to settle Russian soldiers in their homes was recorded. In the Donetsk region, particularly in the city of Mariupol, representatives of the local occupation administration break into the apartments of people who have left to settle Russian military personnel. 

The Russian military seize not only houses and apartments but also appropriate the movable property of residents. For example, in the city of Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, the town of Nova Kakhovka and the village of Zaliznyi Port, Kherson region, and the towns of Lysychansk and Popasna, Luhansk region, the Russian military stole several motor vehicles and cars from residents. The Russian army also changed stolen car license plates in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region.

Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to own property, alone or in association with others” and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her property”. 

The right to liberty and security of person

The second most common violation in the occupied territories is the violation of a person’s right to liberty and security. This right is violated through illegal abductions, arrests, and transfer of civilians to an unknown destination by the Russian military, representatives of the FSB, as well as members of the L/DPR paramilitary groups, and employees of the occupation structures, such as police, security forces, etc.

In December 2022, the Russian military captured a university professor in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, and the Russian army abducted two women in Melitopol and Berdiansk. In Zaporizhzhia, the criminal practice of abducting Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employees who refuse to cooperate with the occupation authorities continues. Russian soldiers beat and took two people to an unknown destination in December. In addition, it is known that in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian military is intensifying filtration measures, kidnapping people, and forcibly taking some residents to the occupied Crimea. Also, under the guise of a trip for the New Year holidays, representatives of the local occupation administration took about 200 children from the Zaporizhzhia region to Russia.

In the village of Velyki Kopani, Kherson region, the Russian military abducted the director of a medical institution for “educational work” because the institution had signs in Ukrainian. In the village of Stanytsia Luhanska, Luhansk region, representatives of the “MGB” of the “LPR” and the Russian occupation forces illegally deprived a woman and her daughter of their liberty; the girl was later released, but her mother is still being held captive by illegal armed groups.

Article 9 of the ICCPR states that “everyone has the right to liberty and security of person” and that “no one shall be arbitrarily arrested or detained”.

Prohibition of torture

Torturing civilians in the occupied territories is an integral part of the policy of the Russian invaders and occupation administrations toward the local population. In particular, torture is used against people who actively resist the occupation or are suspected of disloyalty to the new government.

For example, in December 2022, in the village of Mykhailivka, Zaporizhzhia region, Russian soldiers captured and tortured a local older man who had painted a mural with Ukrainian themes on the wall of a house. In the Svatove district of the Luhansk region, representatives of the LPR’s “people’s police” beat a man several times and threatened him and his family members with arrest to obtain a confession of cooperation with the territorial defense and the SBU. 

Also, in December 2022, it became known that a volunteer abducted earlier in Crimea had partially lost his hearing due to torture.

Article 7 of the ICCPR states, “no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

The right to life

Representatives of the Russian Federation torture and arbitrarily kill residents of the occupied territories, violating their right to life.

In December 2022, in Makiivka, Donetsk region, representatives of illegal armed groups controlled by the Russian Federation shot a family of eight people, three of whom were children. All were killed with assault rifle shots to the head. In the city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian military killed a police colonel who had headed one of the units of Zaporizhzhia region before the war. 

Several violations of the right to life were also recorded in the Kherson region. In particular, on December 27, the starosta of the Veselivka starosta district died of severe injuries: the woman was injured on December 22 due to shelling of the Novokakhovka community by Russian troops. Another incident occurred on December 4: Russian soldiers killed a 65-year-old woman with a machine gun near Holoprystan district. Also in the Kherson region, two men exploded on mines: a 38-year-old man exploded on a tripwire in the temporarily occupied Holoprystan district, dying from his injuries, and a 40-year-old man exploded in the village of Novoberyslav, resulting in his leg being amputated. In addition, the Russian military shelled the town of Oleshky in the Kherson region, killing a woman.

Article 6 of the ICCPR states that “the right to life is the inherent right of everyone. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their life”. 

Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion

Since the beginning of the occupation, the Russian regime has been implementing a policy of total Russification of the local population, including children in the occupied territories of Ukraine, which can be qualified as a violation of the right to freedom of thought. In December 2022, it became known about such cases, particularly in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, where representatives of the local occupation administration are looking for children who study online in Ukrainian schools. Teachers use the Russian curriculum in the seized educational institutions, which contains elements of a distorted understanding of history. In addition, in the cities of Tokmak and Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, the occupation administration conducts systematic inspections of residents’ belongings in search of Ukrainian symbols and content. 

The Russian military also continues to violate the right of Ukrainians to freedom of religion. In December 2022, it became known that the Russian army abducted the pastor of an evangelical church in the city of Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region.

Article 18 of the ICCPR states that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”. This right also includes the freedom to manifest any religion or belief.

4. Comparative analysis of human rights violations recorded in December 2022 with data collected in the previous months (October-November 2022), conclusions. 

For a better understanding of the human rights situation in the occupied territories of Ukraine, let’s compare the data recorded by monitors in December 2022 with the information on human rights violations collected by them in the previous months (October-November 2022).

Thus, in November 2022, 104 violations were identified based on data from open sources. The leading regions regarding the number of violations were Zaporizhzhia (45) and Kherson (34) regions. Similar to this month, property right was violated most often – 45 cases: 20 – in the Zaporizhzhia region; 16 – in the Kherson region; 7 – in the Luhansk region; 2 – in the Donetsk region. The following most common violations in November were violations of the right to liberty and security of persons (32 cases in total in all occupied regions), the prohibition of torture (18 cases), and the right to life (6 cases).

In October 2022, 47 human rights violations were recorded in all occupied territories, with the highest number of violations in the Kherson region (30). The most common types of violations were violations of the right to property and the right to liberty and security of a person. Thus, violations of the property right were committed 20 times: 15 – in the Kherson region, 3 – in the Luhansk region; and one case each in the Donetsk region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. There were also 20 violations of persons’ right to liberty and security: 9 – in the Kherson region, 6 – in the Luhansk region, 4 – in the Zaporizhzhia region, and one case in Crimea. The right to life was violated 6 times, 5 of which were in the Kherson region; in addition, one violation of the prohibition of torture was recorded in the Kherson region.

A comparative analysis of information on human rights violations for December 2022 and the previous months (October-November 2022) allows us to draw the following conclusions:

• the number of human rights violations in the occupied territories is not decreasing and varies from 45 to 110 violations per month. The cases recorded by Vostok SOS monitors make up a small percentage of all human rights violations currently taking place in the occupied territories;
• the most common type of violation is the violation of the right to property of residents of the occupied territories; the second most common is the right to liberty and security of a person. The occupiers also torture and kill civilians in the territories under their control;
• most violations are committed in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the territories occupied by Russia due to its full-scale invasion in 2022. Perhaps the high number of human rights violations recorded in these regions does not depend on the intensity of the offenses, but on the fact that these regions have been occupied recently and, accordingly, the information space of these territories has not yet been “cleared” by the occupation administration as in Crimea or the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied since 2014;
• responsible for human rights violations are, in particular, the personnel of the Russian Armed Forces, representatives of the FSB, local occupation administrations, the L/DPR IAGs, as well as various paramilitary groups, such as Kadyrov’s men, Wagner’s men, etc. supported and encouraged by Russia.