On 18 June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights judged that Russia violated Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights in designating the Свiтовий Конґрес Українців as an “undesirable organisation.”
Such designation is applied when Russia determines “that the organisation undermines the foundations of the Russian constitutional order, defence capabilities, or national security of Russia.”
On 11 July 2019, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office declared the UWC an “undesirable organisation.” When an organisation is designated as “undesirable,” it is prohibited from implementing projects in Russia and disseminating content through media or the Internet.
The organisation’s website is blocked within Russia. Since 2021, Russian nationals have been prohibited from participating in the activities of an “undesirable organisation,” even when they occur outside Russia.
Failure to comply with these restrictions incurs administrative and criminal liabilities. Repeat offenders and individuals who organise “undesirable organisation” operations can face various criminal penalties, including fines, compulsory labor, and imprisonment.
After exhausting its legal recourses in Russia, the UWC submitted a claim against Russia to the European Court of Human Rights.
The European Court of Human Rights consolidated the UWC case with similar claims and, after reviewing the written submissions, rendered a judgment declaring that: “the interference arising from the designation of the applicant organisations [including the UWC] as “undesirable” failed to satisfy the “prescribed by law” criterion, being both unforeseeable and arbitrary.
The domestic law did not provide the applicant organisations [including the UWC] with effective safeguards against the abusive use of the unchecked discretion granted to the executive, leaving them [including the UWC] vulnerable to arbitrary designation without the means for a pre-emptive or meaningful challenge”.
The Court also found that there was a violation of article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of the applicants [including UWC’s former Regional Vice President and legal representative in Russia, Serhii Vynnyk], who have been convicted for their involvement with “undesirable organisations” [including the UWC].
UWC President Paul Grod declared: “This ruling underscores Russia’s persistent human rights violations against the Ukrainian ethnic minority to eradicate Ukrainian national identity. The international community must implement concrete measures to safeguard the Ukrainian minority from Russia’s ethnocide.
We are especially grateful to the law firm “Nazar Kulchytskyy and Partners” and, especially its partners Nazar Kulchytskyy and Markiyan Bem, who undertook a pro bono mission to represent the Ukrainian World Congress in its claim before the European Court of Human Rights and helped us during this journey in pursuit of justice.”
Source: press release on Úkrainian World Congress’ site dated June 28, 2024.