ADC Memorial, Roma and War in Eastern Ukraine – refugees, displaced persons, victims of violence, 7 April 2015 “Millions of people have suffered over the past year of combat operations in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine. During this undeclared war thousands of military personnel and civilians have lost their lives, tens of thousands of people have been wounded, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the conflict zone. Several million people remain in the conflict zone, where they are forced to endure the cold; hunger; lack of a steady income, medical care, and essential items; and various forms of violence (shelling, raids, and the unlawful actions of unrecognized local authorities). […] Many refugees return home, but life in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts is still fraught with danger and violence and is unsettled and difficult in material terms. Additionally, Roma from Eastern Ukraine suffer from biased treatment and the perpetual suspicion of treachery. For example, those who have returned to Sloviansk are accused of being pro-Russian, while those who oppose the Ukrainian government suspect them of supporting anti-Russian forces. It is difficult even for the Roma to understand who is persecuting them and for what reason.” Ethnic minorities ADC Memorial, Alternative report on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by Ukraine, 11 July 2016 “The report prepared by Anti-Discrimination Centre “Memorial” and Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group Anti-Discrimination Centre “Memorial” and Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group have been closely monitoring the violation of the rights of vulnerable ethnic minorities in the situation of armed conflict in the Eastern Ukraine (Donbass) that has affected the life of all the inhabitants of the region. In 2014-2016 field-missions were organized in order to collect evidence of Human Rights violations. The main focus of the research were the violations of Roma rights, therefore a big part of this report is dedicated to this particular problem – Roma rights violations in the conflict-affected area. However, this does not mean that our organizations have not come across facts of other minorities’ rights violations, for example, Meskhetian Turks were victims of the political unrest and discrimination by the self-proclaimed republics (so-called DNR and LNR), in result most of Mekhetian Turks left the country. Declaring themselves “anti-fascist”, the leaders of these “republics” in fact were promoting xenophobic, antiSemitic, anti-Roma and anti-Ukrainian ideology. In the annexed by Russia Crimea is also present strong anti-Ukrainian, anti-Western, disseminative to Crimean Tatar rhetoric and practice. Only some aspects of these problems were included in this report, as only the well-proven facts based on the research carried out by our experts were collected. Some general problems of the situation with the hate crime and hate speech illustrate the problem of the influence of the extreme-right discourses on the modern Ukrainian politics.” 84