The NGO “Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners” has developed and submitted to the Ministry of Community and Territories Development of Ukraine a draft Procedure for the competitive selection of representatives of public associations to the Commission on establishing the fact of deprivation of personal liberty as a result of armed aggression against Ukraine.
The Commission under the Ministry of Development makes decisions that determine the fate of people - whether the state recognizes the fact of illegal imprisonment and whether the person will receive appropriate status and protection.
However, today the composition of the Commission has remained almost unchanged since 2018 and does not reflect the realities of a full-scale war, when the number of civilian and military victims is estimated at tens of thousands.
Despite the fact that the law allows for the participation of public representatives, there has still been no transparent mechanism in Ukraine for how these representatives should be elected. This leads to a lack of renewal of the composition, restrictions on the participation of new initiatives, and a lack of representation of the victims themselves and their families.
Therefore, our organization has developed a clear Procedure for the competitive selection of representatives of public associations to the Commission
The document provides for:
- an open competition for all public associations that work with victims of unlawful deprivation of liberty, document war crimes or search for missing persons;
- clear criteria that include the integrity, competence and reputation of candidates;
- a point system for evaluation and public announcement of the results;
- rotation of representatives every two years to renew the composition;
- mandatory presence in the Commission of persons who directly represent victims and their families, as well as regional and gender balance
In addition, we submitted an explanatory note with a proposal to expand the composition of the Commission at the expense of state institutions that directly work with prisoners and missing persons - the National Police, the Military Ombudsman, the Commissioner for Missing Persons and the Ukrainian National Peacebuilding Center.
The Commission makes decisions that have not only legal, but also moral significance for hundreds of families.
That is why victims, their families and associations that have experience in assistance and documentation should be equal participants in the process.
They should not remain just petitioners - they should become co-creators of state policy in the field of proving the fact of illegal imprisonment, because it is public initiatives that are the first to identify problems, collect evidence, support families and promote changes at the legislative level.
We call on other human rights and public organizations that work with civilians and prisoners of war to join the process of forming the Procedure and submit their proposals to the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine.
We are open to cooperation and are ready to coordinate a common position of civil society - so that the voices of the victims themselves and those who fight daily for their release are represented in the Commission.
This post was created by the NGO "Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners" with the support of the "Askold and Dir" Foundation, which is administered by ISAR Unity within the framework of the project "Strong Civil Society of Ukraine - a Driver of Reforms and Democracy" funded by Norway and Sweden. The content of the post is the responsibility of the NGO "Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners" and does not reflect the views of the governments of Norway, Sweden or ISAR Unity.
