publications

Acknowledgements

This report is based on research conducted by Romaniţa Iordache, Furman fellow in the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch; Jane Buchanan and Julie Chadbourne, consultants; and Matilda Bogner, researcher. Research support was also provided by Julia Hall, senior researcher in the Europe and Central Asia division.

The report was written by Romaniţa Iordache. It was edited by Ben Ward, special counsel, Europe and Central Asia division; Bill Frelick, refugee policy director; Dinah PoKempner, general counsel; and Ian Gorvin, consultant in the program office of Human Rights Watch. Recommendations were reviewed by Veronika Leila Szente Goldston, advocacy director, Europe and Central Asia division. Assistance was provided by Victoria Elman, associate in the Europe and Central Asia division.

Elian Maritz, Eugene Sokoloff, Judit Koppany, and Sergey Gruzdev, interns with the Europe and Central Asia division; Justyna Sobczyk, intern with the International Justice division; Oksana Popova, intern with the Human Rights Watch London office; and Tomasz Zajaczkowski and Stephan Luciw, volunteers, contributed invaluable research support.

The research would not have been possible without the outstanding support of a remarkable group of interpreters. Our deepest thanks to Vladimir Galamov, Olena Kotyk, and Iryna Babych, who helped us with interpretation in Ukraine; Azam Bayburdi, who was an irreplaceable partner in Hungary; Kinga Kowalczyk-Zalewska, Malgorzata Bitkowska, and Magda Szewczak, who supported us with interpretation in Poland; and Monika Smutna and Dusan Institoris, who provided interpretation in Slovakia.

Human Rights Watch would like to acknowledge and thank for their extraordinary assistance and support our colleagues from Amnesty International–Slovakia; Amnesty International–Ukraine; Caritas–Poland; Chernihiv Public Committee of Human Rights Protection; ECRE; ERRC; the Goodwill Society Slovakia; Halina Niec Human Rights Association; Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society; Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights–Poland; Human Rights Have No Borders–Lviv; Hungarian Helsinki Committee; Menedek, Hungary; NEEKA, Ukraine; and the Rokada Charitable Foundation, Kyiv.

In particular we would like to thank the following individuals: Alexandr Galkin, Program Coordinator, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society; Mohamed Naim, leader of the Afghan community in Kyiv; Oleksyi Tarasov, Deputy, Chernihiv Public Committee of Human Rights Protection; Chris Holzen, Director International Republican Institute, Ukraine; Marta Pardavi, Executive Director, Hungarian Helsinki Committee; Dana Marekova, Development Manager, Center for Environmental Public Advocacy; and Martin Skamla, Human Rights League; Katarina Libova, lawyer and Hamid Omed, Director, Goodwill Society, Kosice;  Bartlomiej Tokarz, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights–Poland; and Agnieszka Zadura and Andrej Lorek, Caritas Poland. Human Rights Watch would like to express its gratitude to Julia Zelvenskaya, NGO Support Officer, European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), for her continuous support, and to the staff of ECRE generally.

This research was made possible by a Furman Fellowship granted jointly to Human Rights Watch and New York University.