Ombudsman Lubinets: TCCs have turned into places of detention for citizens

The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets has stated that Ukraine’s territorial recruitment and social support centers (TCCs and SPs) have turned into places where citizens are deprived of their liberty.

“Unfortunately, the authorities respond to human rights violations only when there is a public outcry. A clear example: the visit to the Bila Tserkva TCC and SP. My official recommendations were ignored for two months, and only after the media uproar were repair crews sent there the very next day. Due to the same inaction at the Uzhhorod RTCC and SP, we were forced to publicly expose the violations, since the police on the scene refused to enter information into the URPI,” — Lubinets stated.

The ombudsman pointed to a systemic problem: according to him, official recommendations to remedy violations go unanswered until the situation receives wide media coverage. This is exactly what happened with the Bila Tserkva TCC, where repair crews appeared only after a media scandal, even though Lubinets’s recommendations had been ignored for two months.

Lubinets had previously reported that officials obstructed his attempt to inspect the conditions in which mobilized men were being held at the Uzhhorod TCC. Despite this, he managed to document the violations. Police present at the scene refused to enter information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI), which forced the ombudsman to make the violations public.

After the scandal erupted, the Zakarpattia regional TCC announced that the head of the Uzhhorod district TCC would be transferred to a combat unit.