Confronting Violence in Ukraine

United to Confront Hate-Motivated Violence in Ukraine

Freedom House seeks to improve Ukraine’s response to hate-motivated violence and ultimately to decrease its incidence. Freedom House and its partners work to unite a wide array of communities targeted with hate-motivated violence and convene a broad coalition of civil society groups to monitor, document, and analyze violent incidents and dynamics in Ukraine. By connecting broad and inclusive networks with high-quality documentation and analysis, FH and partners are establishing an authoritative record of hate-motivated violence and its perpetrators for use by policymakers, the public, and the media. Freedom House and partners also support the systematic engagement of civil society and government stakeholders to identify, develop, and adopt concrete policies to address hate-motivated violence.

Key Initiatives

Monitoring and Reporting Network

Freedom House partner Truth Hounds (TH) is the primary coordinator of the documentation process for incidents of hate-motivated violence, collecting data from around the country in a centralized database. Community partners Nash Mir, the Roma Human Rights Protection Center, and The Congress of Ethnic Communities of Ukraine contribute to this effort.

Freedom House partner ZMINA Human Rights Information Center, which operates the Humanrights.org.ua portal, leads partners’ collective campaigning and media engagement efforts. Communication activities share the results of project partners’ documentation and analysis and educate the public about the impact of hate-motivated violence on affected groups in order to pressure policymakers to adopt solutions to hate-motivated violence.

Advocacy for Reform

Freedom House and partners facilitate advocacy initiatives focused on analyzing and improving national-level policy to prevent and respond to hate-motivated violence. Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation (ULAF) focuses on improving law enforcement’s policy and practices addressing hate-motivated violence by studying existing instruments and practices for combatting hate-motivated violence and identifying the root causes of law enforcement’s poor response as well as opportunities for reform. 

Expert Center for Human Rights works with ULAF to implement targeted regional interventions to understand the roots of hate-motivated violence in a local context, identify and advocate for local-level policy solutions, and improve the response of law enforcement and local authorities.

Partners

• Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation
• Nash Mir
• Roma Human Rights Protection Center
• The Congress of Ethnic Communities of Ukraine
• Truth Hounds
• ZMINA Human Rights Information Center
• Expert Center for Human Rights