Ukraine 5AM Coalition calls on the authorities to fully implement the law on persons who went missing during the war
The Ukraine 5AM Coalition calls on the authorities to fully implement the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Status of Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances" and to take a balanced approach to the issue of redistributing the tasks of the Commissioner for Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances.
The Coalition wrote this in the statement commenting on the state's policy regarding the search for persons who have gone missing in the course of the war in Ukraine.
"Such a redistribution must be justified and accompanied by relevant amendments to the law, and a body that will maintain perpetual contact with family members of those who have gone missing during the armed aggression against Ukraine must be assigned," the statement reads.
The human rights activists point out that despite the fact that the law in question has existed for over five years, the mechanism for protecting the persons who have gone missing under special circumstances, as well as their family members, is far from perfect.
"Families of persons who have gone missing under special circumstances are faced with the lack of proper communication with the police unit investigating their relative's case," the statement reads.
Here is the full statement:
Every year, on August 30, the world celebrates the International Day of Missing Persons. Unfortunately, due to the armed conflict that started in 2014, the number of persons who went missing in Ukraine in the course of the hostilities, in particular in the temporarily occupied territories, is growing constantly.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, as of May 2023, there are about 23,000 officially confirmed cases of people going missing under special circumstances as a result of the hostilities.
Back in 2018, the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Status of Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances" was adopted. This law, revised after the start of Russia's large-scale aggression in Ukraine, established guarantees for finding missing persons, protecting their relatives, and providing them with social support. Furthermore, this law coined the position of the Commissioner for Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances at the Ministry of Reintegration, and stipulated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would create a Unified Register of Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances.
Despite the fact that the law in question has existed for over five years, the mechanism for protecting the persons who have gone missing under special circumstances, as well as their family members, is far from perfect.
Families of persons who have gone missing under special circumstances are faced with the lack of proper communication with the police unit investigating their relative's case. Such communication gets especially complicated after a case is passed on to the police department of Donetsk, Luhansk, or Zaporizhzhia oblast, who are dealing with thousands of cases of missing soldiers. Another consequence of investigators being overworked is that DNA profiles received from the relatives don't get timely and properly entered into the DNA database, which is done to see if there is a match with the DNA samples of the deceased.
Since the Unified Register of Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances went up (May 2023), families of missing persons have found it impossible to obtain a proper extract from the register due to the lack of information on the missing relative. This, in turn, makes them unable to actualize their right to social protection.
In the current situation, when relatives of missing persons are in need of state support, the issue of dialogue between the authorities and the relatives, of updating the families on the search for their loved ones, of informing them of their guarantees and rights, becomes critical. This makes the work of the Commissioner for Missing Persons very important as well. In fact, the Commissioner and their regional representatives have been actively working as communicators and analysts ensuring proper interaction between the families of persons who have gonemissing under special circumstances and state bodies or institutions entrusted with the search for such persons, and solving other related issues.
However, on August 10, 2023, it was reported that the position of Commissioner for Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances would be liquidated. The Ministry of Reintegration has explained that the position would not be eliminated, but an interdepartmental meeting in the Government discussed transferring the tasks regarding missing persons from the Ministry of Reintegration to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
The reasons for this decision, however, were never publicly communicated. What is presented as "interdepartmental redistribution of tasks for streamlining purposes" will in practice mean that there is no single authorized coordinating body for this issue. This is unlikely to facilitate the search for the missing or ensure better communication with their relatives.
It should be noted that the decision to "redistribute" the tasks of the Commissioner for Missing Persons was made without any consultation with the relatives' organizations. Dispersing of the tasks of the Commissioner for Missing Persons between law enforcement and military bodies, which by definition (and especially in wartime) are not and cannot work openly, may prove detrimental to the protection of missing persons and their families. In addition, there are considerable doubts as to whether the proposed redistribution of power complies with the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Status of Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances".
The issue of tracking / searching for persons who went missing during an armed conflict is a matter of international humanitarian law, which protects the right of families to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives. Therefore, the state must make every effort to prevent the disappearance of people, search for missing persons and overcome the consequences of such incidents.
The Ukraine 5AM Coalition calls on the authorities to fully implement the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Status of Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances" and to take a balanced approach to the issue of redistributing the tasks of the Commissioner for Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances. Such a redistribution must be justified and accompanied by relevant amendments to the law, and a body that will maintain perpetual contact with family members of those who have gone missing during the armed aggression against Ukraine must be assigned."
Ukraine 5AM Coalition was created on February 25, 2022, the day after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started. It is a coalition of 31 human rights organizations that collect evidence and document war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the course of Russia's armed aggression in Ukraine. IMI is a participant of the coalition.
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