MISSING PERSONS

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 1,000 people went missing during the armed conflict in Ukraine. The fourteenth report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine OHCHR referred to 3,687 criminal proceedings ex post regarding missing persons in the Luhansk or Donetsk Oblasts. According to the data of “East-SOS”, collected in conjunction with the NGO “Mirniy Bereg”, information about the fate and whereabouts of 562 people is missing. According to official figures revealed by the First Vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko, the number of missing persons is 498.1 However, in the absence of a special mechanism of accounting for persons missing during the conflict, it is not possible to assess the actual extent as well as the efficiently of tracing the missing. Unfortunately, to date, the legislation has not defined a procedure for granting legal status to a missing person nor the content of such a status. Furthermore, it made no provisions for a mechanism of accounting for such persons and the exchange of information on missing persons between governmental and non-governmental organizations. There is no mechanism of state support for relatives of missing persons either. Justice for peace in Donbas East SOS Missing persons-legislation Justice for peace in Donbas East SOS Missing persons-legislation Justice for peace in Donbas East SOS Missing persons-legislation (pdf-file)