- Some provisions of Ukraine’s anti-collaboration legislation make it possible to criminally prosecute Ukrainian civilians for legitimate activities essential to civilian life in occupied areas.
- These provisions have led to unjust prosecution of many Ukrainian civilians.
- Ukrainian authorities should revise the legislation, in close consultation with civil society, to ensure compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law. The European Union should include it among the priorities for legal reforms in Ukraine’s EU accession process.
(Kyiv, December 5, 2024) – Ukraine’s anti-collaboration legislation allows for and has enabled the criminal prosecution of Ukrainian civilians for legitimate civilian activities under Russian occupation, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Some Ukrainian civilians, including volunteers, municipal workers, medical personnel, and education workers have been prosecuted for actions that had no criminal content and caused no public harm.
The 45-page report, “‘All She Did Was Help People’: Flawed Anti-Collaboration Legislation in Ukraine,” analyzes Ukraine’s anti-collaboration laws’ impact on rights and their broader consequences on Ukrainian communities during and after Russia’s extremely abusive occupation. While these laws were adopted to deter collaboration with occupying forces, the practical impacts of some aspects of the legislation go much further, Human Rights Watch found. Some provisions do not distinguish between collaboration to undermine state security and situations in which Ukrainian civilians hold public service positions under the occupying authorities so that civilian life can continue or carry out other activities for the benefit of civilians.
“Russia's brutal war has shattered the lives of millions of Ukrainians, whom Russian forces subjected to daily horror, displacement, occupation, and a desperate struggle for survival,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s therefore all the more concerning that many Ukrainians also risk being prosecuted by their own government for simply trying to survive under occupation.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed Ukrainian legal professionals, including sitting judges, defense lawyers, and legal experts, as well as human rights activists and other civil society representatives, representatives of international organizations, and Ukrainian civilians with direct experience of living under occupation. Human Rights Watch also analyzed current and draft legislation and court decisions.
In one documented case, a community leader helping to distribute humanitarian aid under occupation was sentenced to five years in prison; in another, a teacher served a 1.5-year prison sentence for working as a school director for one month; and a veterinarian was sentenced, in absentia, to 10 years in prison for performing an administrative role in the local veterinary service.
Some of the anti-collaboration provisions and the way they have been enforced do not sufficiently address the coercion and duress that civilians face under occupation, Human Rights Watch said. The report describes how the legislation enables the courts to unfairly punish civilians who were forced to engage with Russian occupying authorities to protect themselves and their families.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has wreaked devastation on the civilian population. Russian forces have committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, including in occupied areas, such as torture, enforced disappearances, and killings of civilians. In Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, Russian forces maintain an atmosphere of pervasive fear by severely repressing fundamental rights and retaliating against anyone who opposes Russia’s invasion.
In the weeks following Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian authorities adopted legislation to punish those who collaborate with Russian forces. Under this legislation, more than 8,400 investigations have been opened, and Ukrainian authorities have prosecuted hundreds of Ukrainian civilians, sentencing some to prison terms, on charges of acts of collaboration.
The Ukrainian government is justified in adopting and implementing legislation to punish those who pose a threat to national security under occupation, Human Rights Watch said. Such measures can also help prevent a sense of impunity in society. However, some provisions are overly broad and vague, and lead to the criminalization of a wide range of public sector jobs and other activities essential to civilian life. These provisions cast too wide a net, capturing not only those who actively harm Ukraine’s safety and security, but also civilians simply trying to survive or those carrying out ordinary work for fellow civilians under occupation. The punishments imposed are also very harsh.
Human Rights Watch also documented instances in which local authorities returning to de-occupied areas have at times targeted some residents even after they underwent “filtration,” a compulsory security screening, and were cleared of any suspicion of violating anti-collaboration laws. These officials publicly signaled they will not be able to get a job again because they did not leave and continued to work during occupation.
The Fourth Geneva Convention sets norms to protect civilian life under occupation and protect civilians from abuse by occupying forces. It includes a legal framework under which adult civilians may be compelled to work under the occupation to maintain services essential to civilians, with particular focus given to the need for education and health services to continue. Civilians who perform work or cooperate with occupying forces in the circumstances provided for in the convention for the benefit of civilians should not be punished for it by their own government.
International human rights law requires legislation, particularly criminal legislation, to meet the criteria of “legality,” which means that laws cannot be overly broad or vague. Ukraine’s international legal obligations also require it to ensure due process and fair trial rights, with due consideration for duress or coercive circumstances, equal application of the law, and proportionate punishment. Some of the provisions of Ukraine’s anti-collaboration laws do not meet these tests, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch found that the almost 100 percent conviction rate in collaboration cases, combined with the prevalence of plea bargains, the low rate of appeals, and the scarcity of lawyers willing to handle collaboration cases, raises concerns about whether individuals charged with collaboration have adequate access to due process. In absentia proceedings in many of the collaboration trials do not meet due process safeguards required to make those proceedings fair or legitimate under international law.
Many Ukrainian legal experts and others interviewed believed the legislation to be unjust. Some said it effectively encourages Ukrainians to abandon occupied communities, while causing those who remained to fear, rather than welcome, Ukrainian authorities’ return after de-occupation. Experts said this may make Ukrainian recovery of its territorial integrity and reintegration of de-occupied populations more difficult.
In May 2024, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine issued a directive to the heads of regional prosecutor’s offices, instructing them to comply with international human rights law and international humanitarian law during pretrial investigations and providing procedural guidance in criminal cases involving collaboration.
The instruction reiterated the prevalence of international human rights and humanitarian law over domestic law, while recognizing that some of the legislative provisions concerning collaboration do not explicitly differentiate between criminal collaboration and “necessary interactions” with the occupying power.
The instruction is an important and positive step that should be followed by concrete actions to address problematic aspects of the legislation, Human Rights Watch said. Prosecutors and courts should in each case carefully review and consider individual circumstances, such as evidence of intimidation, pressure, or threats of violence.
Prosecuting collaboration cases should be carried out in strict compliance with applicable human rights and humanitarian law, and carefully balance Ukraine's immediate state security needs with humanitarian concerns, and long-term interests of Ukraine in recovering and successfully reintegrating Russian occupied territories, Human Rights Watch said.
“These provisions have been placing many Ukrainian civilians in an untenable situation by making them vulnerable to prosecution for providing routine public services to their fellow Ukrainians, as they are expected to do under occupation,” Williamson said. “Ukraine’s state security concerns are paramount but do not require disregarding international law and the human rights of its citizens.”
