R2P, DESYATE KVITNYA, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, the European Network on Statelessness and the European Roma Rights Centre Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 28th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (Third Cycle, 6-17 November 2017) Ukraine Introduction 1) R2P, DESYATE KVITNYA, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (The Institute), the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review in relation to statelessness, access to nationality and human rights in Ukraine. 2) R2P1 is one of the leading legal experts on statelessness in Ukraine and has extensive experience in providing legal aid to marginalised groups including stateless persons, undocumented persons, refugees, asylum seekers, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the conflict-affected population. Statelessness is one of R2P’s core programming themes and is ingrained into the organisation’s mission. Legally chartered in 2013, R2P is the successor organisation to HIAS Kyiv, which has been working on statelessness issues in Ukraine since 2007. 3) DESYATE KVITNYA (THE TENTH OF APRIL)2 is an independent, humanitarian, non-governmental and non-profit organisation based in Odessa, Ukraine. It aims to contribute to the development of civil society and strengthening the rule of law in Ukraine. The Organisation was founded in 2012 by likeminded human rights activists with professional experience of over 10 years and a particular expertise in refugee rights protection. The Organisation provides free legal aid and assistance to vulnerable groups including asylum seekers, refugees, IDPs, stateless persons and Roma people. The Organisation’s activities also include monitoring of human rights protection in Ukraine, cooperation with other stakeholders, and capacity-building actions. 4) The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion3 is an independent non-profit organisation committed to an integrated, human rights based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion through a combination of research, education, partnerships and advocacy. Established in August 2014, it is the first and only global Centre committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending statelessness. Over the past two years, the Institute has made over 10 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons, and also compiled summaries of the key human 1 For more information about R2P, please see the website http://r2p.org.ua/en/. 2 For more information about DESYATE KVITNYA, please see the website http://desyatekvitnya.com/. 3 For more information about the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, please see the website http://www.institutesi.org/. 2