Ukraine

Civilians’ lives and well-being continue to be at risk from the war in eastern Ukraine, now in its sixth year, even as absolute numbers of civilian casualties dropped. Ukraine became the 100th country to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment to making schools safe during times of war. Ukraine’s government took important steps to complete stalled anti-corruption reforms, but the county’s overall human rights record remains mixed. Independent media remains under pressure and ethnic minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and rights activists risk violence from far-right groups. The government maintains discriminatory policies toward pensioners in areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian proxies.