In a newly published report on Ukraine the European Commission against racism and intolerance (ECRI), while acknowledging the exceptional circumstances brought by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, has identified legislative and policy progress made and gaps remaining across three main areas: effective equality and access to rights, hate speech and hate-motivated violence, and integration and inclusion.
Among the recommendations provided, it calls for more awareness-raising campaigns to prevent hate speech, and further measures to facilitate Roma access to identity documents. The report covers the period from June 2017 to March 2026 and follows a country visit in September 2025, before publication on 21 October 2026.
Good practices developed
ECRI’s report welcomes several positive developments. Among other actors, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for human rights has stepped up its non-discrimination activities and strengthened cooperation with civil society. More training and guidance for police officers on hate crime investigations have been provided, including through increased international cooperation.
New strategies and policies around Roma inclusion have been adopted, followed by good examples of proactive outreach to Roma communities. ECRI also welcomes a number of political commitments made towards LGBTI equality.
Concerns remain, notably about the situation of Roma and LGBTI people
Despite positive developments, some issues give rise to concern. Roma and LGBTI people appear to be particularly targeted by hate speech, even if a decrease in the overall incidence of hate speech since the start of the full-scale war has been reported. According to the report, many hate incidents continue to be misclassified and not treated as such by police officers and prosecutors.
In addition, access to healthcare for LGBTI people, particularly transgender persons, remains an issue. Gaps in school curricula were found in relation to the inclusion of Roma history and culture, as well as of LGBTI-related topics in a sensitive and age-appropriate manner. Incidents involving allegations of racist or LGBTI-phobic misconduct by officials of the National Police, the State Border Guard Service and the armed forces have also been reported.
Recommendations provided to Ukrainian authorities
ECRI’s report contains a set of 15 recommendations to the Ukrainian authorities. These recommendations include calling on the Ukrainian authorities to take action to ensure access to quality education for Roma children, for example by creating outreach initiatives in coordination with Roma mediators and families. ECRI also recommends taking action to combat and prevent LGBTI-phobic bullying in schools, as well as advancing towards equality and hate crime laws that explicitly include sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, ethnic origin, and colour in the list of protected grounds.
ECRI requests priority implementation for two recommendations. In its first priority recommendation, ECRI says that the authorities should conduct, in cooperation with civil society, awareness-raising campaigns across the country to prevent hate speech, in particular against LGBTI persons and Roma.
The second priority recommendation calls on the Ukrainian authorities to create an inclusive task force to proactively identify and support Roma in need of proper identification documents, including by further simplifying administrative procedures and by ensuring targeted support to overcome administrative barriers, where necessary.
An interim follow-up process will be carried out within two years following the publication of the report to assess the measures taken by the authorities in relation to these two priority recommendations.
Disclaimer: The ECRI report does not take into account the situation in the Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation or where hostilities have been conducted, more specifically the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as parts of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions. The situation of millions of Ukrainian people who have been displaced from Ukraine is equally not covered by the report but is reflected in ECRI’s monitoring of other European countries. In the statement adopted by ECRI at its 88th plenary meeting from 29 March to 1 April 2022, ECRI condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in the strongest terms, noting that it has resulted in immense suffering of the Ukrainian people and that it was preceded and is accompanied by ultra-nationalist political discourse and propaganda by the leaders of the Russian Federation, and it expressed its full support to the Ukrainian people fighting for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.
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ECRI is a unique Council of Europe human rights monitoring body made up of independent experts, which specialises in questions relating to the fight against racism, discrimination (on grounds of “race”, ethnic/national origin, colour, citizenship, religion, language, sexual orientation and gender identity), xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in Europe; it prepares reports and issues recommendations to member states.
