Kyiv, 29 July 2024 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and in partnership with ZMINA Human Rights Centre, have released the results of a survey on what Ukrainians know about human rights and how they assess respect for human rights, conducted by Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in 2023. 

This is the fourth round of the nationwide representative survey into the evolution of attitudes to and understanding of human rights in Ukraine since 2016. Christophoros Politis, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine, emphasized the importance of building evidence and strengthening a right-based approach in Ukraine, especially in the context of a full-scale war that has resulted in new threats to human rights protection in Ukraine.

“We strongly believe that this multidimensional sociological survey will constitute a source of information for the development of policies, strategic documents, action plans and capacity development programmes to advance human rights, rule of law and inclusivity.  Informing recovery processes with evidence so that no one is left behind in these difficult times for Ukraine is of critical importance,” he said.

The survey showed that despite the security situation, economic crisis and other humanitarian problems caused by the full-scale war, freedom remains Ukrainians’ top value priority, with 91 percent of respondents choosing it as their main value this year. The respondents also chose security (79 percent), justice (76 percent), and dignity (71 percent) more frequently. 

Tetyana Pechonchyk, Head of the ZMINA Human Rights Centre, said that increasing awareness among people about the consequences of curtailing rights and freedoms explains this trend.

"The percentage of Ukrainians who are not willing to cede part of their rights and freedoms to the state in exchange for material goods has steadily increased — from 35% in 2016 to 47% in 2023. Similarly, the number of Ukrainians who rely primarily on themselves rather than on the state has increased by 10% over the past seven years. The Ukrainian nation is rapidly maturing," she said.

Have Ukrainians become more active in defending their rights in the context of war? 

Ukrainians remain relatively passive in defending their rights. As many as 44 percent of respondents admitted that they had experienced violations of their rights at least once. Only half (51 percent) of the respondents whose rights had been violated tried to defend their rights, and only 18 percent managed to do so in most cases. However, the remaining 49 percent of respondents did not even try to defend their rights. 

It should be noted that in 2023, Ukrainians became twice as likely to go to the police to defend their violated rights, with almost 25 percent of respondents saying they had done so. The proportion of people who sought the help of lawyers and free legal aid has also increased: 21 percent in 2023 against 11 percent in 2020. 

Respect for human rights: state of play

Despite the situation and restrictions imposed under martial law, respect for various rights has slightly improved compared to previous surveys. In particular, on a five-point scale, respect for cultural rights has been rated at 3.38, respect for political rights (the rights to vote and be elected, the right to form political parties and public associations, the right of peaceful assembly, and so on) at 3.04, respect for fundamental rights (the right to life, the right to personal liberty, freedom of expression, and so on) at 2.93, respect for environmental rights at 2.78, and respect for socio-economic rights at 2.71. 

"It might seem paradoxical — during the full-scale war, respondents rate the observance of various groups of rights higher than before. However, there is a logical explanation. It is likely that respondents rated the observance of different groups of rights more positively than in 2020 because many are aware that the situation could have been much worse. Furthermore, the survey was conducted amidst a full-scale war, and respondents most likely evaluated the observance of rights within this context," explained Andriy Sukharyna, associate analyst at the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation.

Background information 

The nationwide survey on human rights in Ukraine was conducted between 29 October and 12 November 2023. A total of 2,001 respondents aged 18 and older were interviewed. The maximum random sampling error does not exceed 2.3 percent. This is the fourth round of a survey entitled “What Ukrainians know and think about human rights”. The results of the surveys conducted in 2016, 2018 and 2020 can be found here.

The views presented in this study do not necessarily reflect the views of UNDP or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

Media enquiries: Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Head of Communications; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org