Ukraine: Immigration Detention During the Current Conflict

253

292

1,481

842

645

530

10,922

0

377

362

Not Available

566

373

3

13

52%

39%

1,488

60,771

117,440

137,965

1.7%

167

260

305

37,860,221

36,700,000

43,700,000

44,824,000

44,900,000

5,064,173

4,997,387

4,964,293

4,834,900

5,151,400

13.38%

11.43%

10.8%

11.4%

2,389

2,374

2,532

2,382

2,249

2,166

2,620

3,257

3,252

3,232

2,968

2,844

2,807

0.07

0.06

0.1

487

486

406

1,589

1,329

1,295

3,285

2,228

15.3

10,910

35,760

36,235

35,600

35,650

35,294

35,363

35,179

33,271

35,000

35,000

$ 3,082,000

$ 3,900,000

$ 3,867,000

$ 7,587,000,000

$ 6,619,000,000

$ 24,000,000

%

%

1,403.7

769,230,000

81 (High)

83 (High)

78 (High)

63

The GDP has received alarming reports detailing the detention of 44 non-nationals in Ukraine’s Volyn detention centre (Volyn PTPI). Conditions in the facility are reported to be dire, raising serious concerns for detainees’ safety and wellbeing. (The GDP previously reported about the situation at Volyn, see our 29 April 2022 blog entry below.) Located in northwestern Ukraine and 130km from the border with Belarus, Volyn is reportedly detaining 44 non-nationals–42 men and two women. In our previous reports about Volyn, which were coordinated with media outlets and other civil society groups, we highlighted the grave plight of foreign nationals trapped at the detention centre who were unable to evacuate even as Russia’s war on the country reached nearby towns. Despite the reported release of some immigration detainees in Ukraine since then, the GDP is alarmed to learn that Volyn PTPI remains operational and that conditions in the centre remain appalling, even as concerns grow of a possible land invasion by Russian and Belarusian troops amassing on the Belarus border. Much of Ukraine has been facing power outages in recent weeks as a result of Russian missiles targeting the country’s power-generating facilities. Volyn PTPI may also have been affected, with reports received by the GDP highlighting constant electricity cuts–with the facility’s management rarely turning on a generator–heating that is rarely on, extremely cold rooms, infrequent hot water supply, and disrupted cellular service. Combined with bitterly cold winter weather (this weekend, temperatures are expected to plunge to -12° in the area), the welfare of detainees is at grave risk. Already, several detainees are reported to be sick. Previously, the GDP reported that detainees were mostly students and migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Sudan who had been detained on immigration grounds and who were desperately trying to return to their own countries. The most recent reports received by the GDP, however, indicate a change in the profile of detainees. Today, they are principally ethnic Tatars, Dagestanis, Russians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, and Uzbeks seeking asylum from political and religious persecution–and who would thus risk persecution or worse if “evacuated” to their home countries. Nevertheless, Ukrainian authorities likely view these nationals with suspicion and may assume that they are affiliated with an aggressor country during a state of war. Ukraine’s continued detention of migrants and refugees violate international legal standards that underscore the necessity of releasing detainees in administrative detention in situations of on-going warfare. Additional Protocol 1, Article 58C, of the Geneva Conventions requires all parties to a conflict to take necessary measures to protect civilians under their control from the effects of war. It is also alarming that Russians, Tatars, Dagestanis, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, and Uzbeks, many of whom have fled persecution by Russian security services and whose lives and safety would be in extreme danger if deported to their countries, are being arrested, detained, and threatened with deportation from Ukraine. Amidst the ongoing suffering across Ukraine, it is crucial that the rights of refugees and asylum seekers caught up within the conflict are not overlooked. Ukraine must consider immediately releasing all foreign nationals who are being detained for immigration reasons, in particular in light of on-going warfare on its territory. The GDP also believes that it is incumbent on international and regional organisations to help detainees find safety in accordance with their mandates.

Immigration Detention amidst War: The Case of Ukraine’s Volyn Detention Centre A Global Detention Project Special Report In early March, shortly into Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Global Detention Project (GDP) began receiving email messages and videos from individuals claiming to know people who remained trapped in an immigration detention centre inside Ukraine, even as the war approached. We also received messages from a representative of the humanitarian group Alight based in Poland, who said that they too were receiving messages from detainees at Volyn, as well as identity documents, photos, and videos. The information we received indicated that there were several dozen detainees still at the Volyn detention centre (formally, “Volyn PTPI,” but also referred to as the “Zhuravychi Migrant Accommodation Centre”), including people from Pakistan, India, Eritrea, Sudan, Afghanistan, among other countries. They had grown particularly desperate after the start of the war and had held a demonstration to demand their release when the nearby town was shelled, which reportedly was violently broken up by detention centre guards. The GDP located a webpage on the official website of Ukraine’s State Secretariat of Migration that provided confirmation of the operational status of the Volyn facility as well as of two others. Although the official webpage was subsequently taken down, as of late March it continued to indicate that there were three operational migration-related detention centres in Ukraine, called Temporary Stay for Foreigners or PTPI (Пункти тимчасового перебування іноземців та осіб без громадянства): Volyn PTPI(Zhuravychi); Chernihiv PTPI; and Nikolaev PTPI (also referred to as the Mykolaiv detention centre). We learned that the Chernihiv PTPI, located north of Kyiv, was emptied shortly after the start of the war. However, as of the end of March 2022, it appeared that both the Volyn PTPI and Nikolaev PTPI remained operational and were holding detainees. We understood that the situation at the detention centres had been brought to the attention of relevant authorities in Ukraine and that the embassies of at least some of the detainees—including India—had begun arranging the removal of their nationals. Detainees from some countries, however, reportedly indicated that they did not want assistance from their embassies because they did not wish to return and were seeking asylum. In our communications and reporting on this situation, including on social media and through direct outreach to officials and media outlets, the GDP consistently called for the release of all migrants trapped in detention centres in Ukraine and for international efforts to assist migrants to seek safety. We highlighted important international legal standards that underscore the necessity of releasing detainees in administrative detention in situations of ongoing warfare. Important among these is Additional Protocol 1, Article 58C, of the Geneva Conventions, which requires all parties to a conflict to take necessary measures to protect civilians under their control from the effects of the war. We also pointed to relevant human rights standards pertaining to administrative detention. For example, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in their seminal Revised Deliberation No. 5 on the deprivation of liberty of migrants, conclude that in “instances when the obstacle for identifying or removal of persons in an irregular situation from the territory is not attributable to them … rendering expulsion impossible … the detainee must be released to avoid potentially indefinite detention from occurring, which would be arbitrary.” Similarly, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has repeatedly found that when the purpose of such detention is no longer possible, detainees must be released (see ECHR, “Guide on Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights: Right to Liberty and Security,” paragraph 149.). In April, a consortium of press outlets—including Lighthouse Reports, Al Jazeera English, and Der Spiegel—jointly undertook an investigation into migrants trapped in detention in Ukraine and published separate reports simultaneously on 4 April. Human Rights Watch (HRW) also published their own report on 4 April, which called on authorities to immediately release the detainees. All these reports cited information provided by the GDP and interviewed GDP staff. HRW reported that they had spoken to some of the detainees at Volyn (Zhuravychi) and were able to confirm numerous details, including that “people of up to 15 nationalities were being held there, including people from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria.” According to HRW, the detainees claimed to have “been detained in the months prior to the Russian invasion for irregularly trying to cross the border into Poland.” They said that there were more than 100 men and women at the facility, though according to Lighthouse Reports only an estimated 45 people remained at the centre as of 21 March. The interviewees said that conditions at the detention centre deteriorated after 24 February when members of the Ukrainian military moved into the centre and guards relocated the detainees to one of the two buildings in the complex, freeing the second building for the soldiers. When detainees protested and demanded to be released, the guards refused, forcibly putting an end to the protest and beating detainees. Some detainees claimed to have been told that they could leave the centre if they agreed to fight alongside the Ukrainian military, which they refused. An issue addressed in many of these reports is the EU’s role in financing immigration detention centres in Ukraine, which the GDP had previously noted in a report about Ukraine in 2012. According to that report, “In 2011, 30 million Euros were allocated to build nine new detention centres in Ukraine. According to the EU delegation to Ukraine, this project will ‘enable’ the application of the EU-Ukraine readmission by providing detention space for ‘readmitted’ migrants sent back to Ukraine from EU countries.” In its report on the situation, Al Jazeera quoted Niamh Ní Bhriain of the Transnational Institute, who said that the EU had allocated 1.7 million euros ($1.8m) for the securitisation of the Volyn centre in 2009. She added, “The EU drove the policies and funded the infrastructure which sees up to 45 people being detained today inside this facility in Ukraine and therefore it must call on Ukraine to immediately release those being held and guarantee them the same protection inside the EU as others fleeing the same war.” Efforts to get clarity on EU financing from officials in Brussels were stymied by lack of responsiveness on the part of EU officials. According to Al Jazeera, “The European Commission did not answer questions from Al Jazeera regarding its operation and whether there were plans to help evacuate any remaining people. Ukrainian authorities also did not respond to a request for comment.” The Guardian also reported in mid-April they had “approached the Zhuravychi detention facility and the Ukrainian authorities for comment” but had yet to receive a response as of 12 April. However, on 5 April, two MEPs, Tineke Strik and Erik Marquardt, raised the issue during a joint session of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs (LIBE) and the Committee on Development (DEVE). The MEPs urged the EU to take steps to assist the release of the detainees. In mid-April, reports emerged that some detainees who had been released from the Volyn PTPI in Zhuravychi were later re-detained in Poland. In its 14 April report, The Guardian reported that “some of those that were released from the centre in the first few days of the war are now being held in a detention centre in Poland, after they were arrested attempting to cross the Polish border, but these claims could not be verified.” On 22 April, Lighthouse Reports cited Tigrayan diaspora representatives as saying that two former detainees at the facility were refugees fleeing Ethiopia’s war in the region, where human rights groups report evidence of a campaign of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Despite being provided documents by Ukraine stipulating that they were stateless persons and being promised safe passage, Polish border guards detained the pair, arguing that there was an “extreme probability of escape.” Separately, human rights campaigners following the case informed the GDP in late April that they had evidence of immigration detainees still being locked up in Ukraine’s detention centres, including in particular the Nikolaev (Mykolaiv) PTPI. The GDP continues to call for the release of all migrants detained in Ukraine during ongoing warfare and for international efforts to help detainees to find safety, in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law. Recognizing the huge efforts Poland is making to assist refugees from Ukraine, we nevertheless call on the Polish government to treat all people fleeing Ukraine equally and without discrimination based on race, nationality, or ethnic origin. Everyone fleeing the conflict in Ukraine is entitled to international protection and assistance and no one should be detained on arrival in Poland. • Global Detention Project, Initial Twitter regarding the Zhuravychi/Volyn detention centre, 14 March 2022, https://twitter.com/migradetention/status/1503782279591649281?s=20&t=RJiogbQssEW9Oed1Bu4yMg • Human Rights Watch, “Migrant, Asylum Seekers Locked Up in Ukraine,” 4 April 2022, https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/04/migrants-asylum-seekers-locked-ukraine • Lighthouse Reports, “Twitter,” 21 March 2022, https://twitter.com/LHreports/status/1506029416652156933 • J. Christensen, “War in Ukraine Could Make the COVID-19 Pandemic Worse, WHO Says,” CNN, 14 March 2022, https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/13/health/who-ukraine-war-covid-19/index.html • WHO, “Stop Attacks on Health Care in Ukraine: Joint Statement from UNICEF, UNFPA, and WHO,” 13 March 2022, https://www.who.int/news/item/13-03-2022-stop-attacks-on-health-care-in-ukraine • L. Sabin, “Prisoners in Ukraine with Combat Experience will be Released from Jail to Help Defend Against Russia,” The Independent, 28 February 2022, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-army-russia-prisoners-jail-b2024985.html • C. Brown, “A Kremlin Paper Justifies Erasing the Ukrainian Identity, as Russia is Accused of War Crimes,” CBC, 5 April 2022, https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kremlin-editorial-ukraine-identity-1.6407921 • K. Fallon, “Fear Grows for Migrants Held in Ukraine’s Detention Centre,” Al-Jazeera, 4 April 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/4/fear-grows-for-migrants-held-in-ukraines-detention-centre • S. Lüdke, “Caught in War,” Der Spiegel, 4 April 2022, https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/ukraine-migranten-in-eu-finanzierten-haftzentren-gefangen-a-ea2ed6bc-9d46-4026-af5d-c58f9d1095f0 • Lighthouse Reports, “Twitter,” 4 April 2022, https://twitter.com/stluedke/status/1510907043225477121 • Volyn PTPI (in Zhuravychi) (© Ukraine Ombudsperson via Right2Protect, https://r2p.org.ua/shho-take-ptpi/) • GDP Twitter thread on data from Ukraine’s State Secretariat of Migration, 25 March 2022, https://twitter.com/migradetention/status/1507254585949310980?s=20&t=RJiogbQssEW9Oed1Bu4yMg • GDP Twitter tread on relevant international law, 27 March 2022, https://twitter.com/migradetention/status/1508159933593882628?s=20&t=RJiogbQssEW9Oed1Bu4yMg • Niamh Ní Bhriain (The Transnational Institute), Twitter thread, 24 March 2022, https://twitter.com/DondeNiamh/status/1506910877685010433?s=20&t=wcPwjTiMTlEovUSnUOH4GQ • Global Detention Project, “Immigration Detention in Ukraine,” 2012, https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe/ukraine#country-report • Jessie Williams, “‘Scared for our lives’: grave concerns over safety of refugees detained by Ukraine,” The Guardian, 12 April 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/apr/12/ukraine-refugees-detained-russia-war

According to information submitted to the GDP by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ukraine, the number of newly detained migrants in the country has decreased during the pandemic. In Zakarpattia Oblast, those who have been apprehended while entering the country during the crisis have been placed in Border Guard Temporary Holding Facilities (THFs) and Specially Equipped Premises (SPs) (Mukachevo THF, Onokivzi SP, Velukuj SP, and Solotvino SP). THFs are designed for holding non-nationals for up to 72 hours (or for up to ten days with permission from the prosecutor), while SPs are designed for holding non-nationals for three hours (or up to three days if necessary and provided the public prosecutor is notified within 24 hours). Usually, persons who need to be detained longer are transferred to one of three state-run migrant custody centres (MCCs). However, during the pandemic such transfers have been halted leaving detainees confined in THFs and SPs for far longer than legislation permits. Although Ukrainian authorities announced a non-discriminatory approach to the pandemic, significant barriers exist in the country, preventing many undocumented nationals from accessing assistance during the pandemic. Individuals without identity documents—including thousands of stateless persons—are not entitled to access state services including medical examinations (which are free of charge to any documented individual). In a survey conducted by Right to Protection among stateless persons in Ukraine between April and May, 92 percent of stateless persons reported that they do not have a family doctor—and approximately half of all respondents reported that they had been denied registering due to their lack of identity documents. Although UNHCR estimates that there are 35,600 stateless persons in the country, in 2019 only 5,642 had a stateless person residence permit. Few are able to regularise their situation due to the fact that the country lacks a statelessness determination procedure (a draft law, #2335, which would establish this, is currently awaiting parliamentary debate).

According to information provided to the Global Detention Project (GDP) by the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG), the Ukrainian government is currently preparing to release inmates from prisons across Ukraine in an effort to stem the spread of the virus. Together with the Ministry of Justice, KHPG has prepared two bills on amnesty and parole which have been approved by the government, and which are now awaiting parliamentary approval. According to the KHPG, rights groups hope for 40 percent of the prison population to be released from the country’s “chronically underfunded” penitentiary system. On 30 April, the head of the UN Monitoring Mission for Human Rights in Ukraine called on the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health to strengthen their response to Covid-19 in the country’s penitentiary system. There do not appear to be any specific plans to release people from migration-related detention, and to-date, KHPG is not aware of any calls from civil society to protect non-citizens. According to the rights group, some lawyers and government officials view - if inaccurately - immigration detention facilities as resembling hotels rather than prisons. They also hold that with deportation impossible and no alternative accommodation options in place, it would be “dangerous” to release non-citizens. In recent years, the number of people detained at Temporary Holding Centres for Foreign Nationals and Stateless Persons (THCs) for the purpose of expulsion has increased: from 407 in 2014 to 1,481 in 2018. KHPG says that there is significant overcrowding at THCs, which have a maximum capacity of 473, and that detainees have limited access to assistance. According to the Ombudsman’s 2018 report, detention conditions are inadequate in THCs - those inside have limited space, and are restricted in their ability to communicate with the outside world. Within the context of a pandemic, such conditions raise significant concerns. In early May, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights also reported concerns regarding the detention of Ukrainian nationals (and others who have not taken Russian citizenship) in both Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories. Noting that Crimean Tatars detained in the Russian Federation and occupied Crimea lack sufficient space, ventilation, and sanitary conditions, she pointed to reports that they are not being provided with PPE, disinfectants, or medicines.

While calls have been circulated urging authorities to take precautionary steps to protect prisoners, the GDP is not aware of such calls being made with regards to immigration detainees. On 24 March, 100 Ukrainian and European NGOs issued a statement urging Russian authorities to take necessary steps to protect prisoners confined in the Donbas and Crimea (as well as in Russia). According to the statement, inadequate measures have been adopted to protect prisoners - health services are “faulty,” prison authorities cannot guarantee adequate sanitation and hygiene conditions, no masks are available for prisoners displaying symptoms, and facilities are overcrowded. The statement, however, did not address persons detained due to their migration status. In Ukrainian-controlled prisons, prisoners speaking to the Kharkhiv Human Rights Protection Group have reported a lack of precautionary measures (including disinfection, temperature screening on arrival, and protective clothing for staff) despite the introduction of governmental decrees requiring penitentiary institutions to initiate anti-epidemic measures. On 23 March, the Justice Ministry Elena Vysotskaya, Deputy Minister of the Justice Ministry, stated that although there were no plans to release prisoners, authorities are observing practices of other countries and are not ruling out the option of releasing inmates. No mention of immigration detainees, however, was made.

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Yes

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