National frameworks to address hate crime in Ukraine
This page provides information on the national frameworks to address hate crime in Ukraine. The information provided here should be viewed alongside data presented on Ukraine's hate crime report page.
Hate crime recording and data collection
Hate crime monitoring and data collection in Ukraine is carried out according to an instruction from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Information about crimes committed against persons, including hate crimes, is registered by National Police unites in the information and communication system ("National Police Information Portal"). The recording protocol enables the recording of the victim's perception of bias motivation, including race, nationality, religion, or belief.
If the grounds provided for in Article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine are met, the relevant information is entered into the "Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations", which is managed by the Office of the Prosecutor General and is operated according to the appropriate regulation. The preliminary legal qualification of a crime may change depending on the evidence obtained during the investigation.
Hate crime data is collected by the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine based on information in the protocols on committed or attempted crimes, as well as in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations. The investigative departments of National Police Directorates for each region of the country have staff responsible for monitoring and identifying information about crimes that may indicate the presence of prejudice. This information is also sent to the Main Investigation Department of the National Police for compilation.
The police define hate crimes as committed on the grounds of racial, national or religious intolerance. In addition, records are kept of crimes committed on the grounds of prejudice against members of the LGBTI community and people with disabilities.
When collecting information on hate crimes, the National Police of Ukraine requests the information that it needs from other organizations and institutions, including the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Statistical information on hate crimes is published annually on the official website of the National Police.
The Prosecutor's Office does not generate data on hate crimes because there is no precise definition of hate crime in existing Ukrainian legislation. Information can only be filtered according to articles of the Criminal Code, which do not provide reliable information about hate crimes. In particular, the regulation of the Office of the Prosecutor General provides additional notes on the qualification of individual such offences, in particular on Articles 115, 121, 122, 126, 127, 129, 161 and 300.
Statistics on the judicial outcomes are provided by the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine. Statistical information is also based on separate articles of the Criminal Code but does not reveal information on bias motivation in sentenced cases.
Victimization surveys are not conducted in Ukraine.
Hate crime victim support
Ukraine does not have a developed victim support system. Victims of hate crime have the same legal status as other crime victims.
There are support centres for victims of domestic violence. There are no state-run organizations providing support to victims of hate crimes. Support to these victims is provided by civil society organizations (CSOs), which are not funded by the state and which specialize in helping victims belonging to specific categories or groups. The services offered include legal advice, psychosocial counselling and medical support. There are no quality standards issued by the state for support providers.
When recording a crime, police fill out a crime report form that includes information about a perpetrator’s potential bias motivation. There is no individual needs assessment procedure for law enforcement in Ukraine; CSOs follow their own procedures.
Crime victims are entitled to free-of-charge interpretation services and legal aid. Issues related to tolerance and non-discrimination are included in police training.
Crime victims can file complaints about their treatment by law enforcement either to the police or to the Ombudsman’s Office. Victims of crime can claim compensation from the perpetrator.
Hate crime capacity building
In June 2016, a team of authors from the National Police and the Lviv State University of Internal Affairs developed methodological guidance on "Crimes committed on the basis of intolerance: features of the investigation."
In addition, through a consultative process involving experts from the National Police of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office and public organizations monitoring hate crimes in Ukraine, a practical guide on Categorization and Investigation of hate crimes in Ukraine was prepared and published by ODIHR in 2019.