Human rights in Ukraine Presentation Yudina Anna TEC

Human rights in Ukraine Presentation Yudina Anna TEC № 2 Form 11 -A

The rights of citizens can be divided into three groups: • 1) to participate in governance and socio-political activity: the right to public service, making suggestions, with the necessary information and documents in the prescribed form, holding meetings, rallies, demonstrations, establishment of public associations or entry into them and others; • 2) to obtain the assistance of the competent organizations: the right to health, sanitary and epidemiological assistance, free use of goods (libraries, parks, etc. ), use of transport, getting onerous and other services; • 3) the rights, which are protected by the administrative (administrative appeal, the administrative and jurisdictional production), the courts (the complaint, the lawsuit) and personally citizen (self-defense).

Until very recently human rights in Ukraine were better than those in most former Soviet republics and Ukraine was labeled as "free" by organizations such as Freedom House. However in 2011 Freedom House labeled Ukraine "Partly Free". Amnesty International also signaled a significant deterioration of the observance of human rights in Ukraine in 2011.

Ukraine is a party of the following international treaties • • • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (First) Optional Protocol to the ICCPR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Optional Protocol to CEDAW Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture

The right to fair trial Amendments to the constitution, which came into force, were detrimental for fair trial in that they re-introduced the so-called general supervision by the prosecutor’s office. Other serious problems included lengthy periods for review of cases because the courts were overloaded; infringement of equality of arms; non-observance of the presumption of innocence; the failure to execute court rulings; and high level of corruption in courts. Independent lawyers and human rights activists have complained Ukrainian judges regularly come under pressure to hand down a certain verdict. [

Media Freedom and Freedom of Information • In Ukraine’s provinces numerous, anonymous attacks[20] and threats persisted against journalists, who investigated or exposed corruption or other government misdeeds. [21][22] The USbased Committee to Protect Journalists concluded in 2007 that these attacks, and police reluctance in some cases to pursue the perpetrators, were “helping to foster an atmosphere of impunity against independent journalists

Torture and Conditions in Detention • Reports of torture and illtreatment by police persisted, as did unduly long periods of pretrial custody. Of major concern were the inhumane conditions in detention with overcrowded cells, appalling sanitary conditions and the lack of appropriate medical care. During the year numerous cases of group suicide attempts, took place in some penal colonies

Human Rights Abuses and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic • The Ukrainian government has taken a number of positive steps to fight HIV/AIDS, chiefly in the area of legislative and policy reform. But these important commitments are being undermined by widespread human rights abuses against drug users, sex workers, and people living with HIV/AIDS in the criminal justice and health systems.

Migrants and Refugees • The Ukrainian asylum system barely functions due to a highly decentralized structure spanning several government agencies and departments. Process to create a single migration system has been slow; political interference in the system is common and abuses of migrants and asylum seekers’ rights continue

Human Trafficking • • There has been a growing awareness of human trafficking as a human rights issue in Europe. The end of communism has contributed to an increase in human trafficking, with the majority of victims being women forced into prostitution. Ukraine is a country of origin and country of transit for persons, primarily women and children, trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The Government of Ukraine has shown some commitment to combat trafficking but has been criticised for not fully complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and inadequate trafficking prevention efforts. [ Human trafficking is illegal, however the majority of convicted traffickers received probation instead of prison sentences. The government adopted a multi-year policy to fight human trafficking, however Ukraine remained a country of transit and destination for large numbers of trafficked persons

International human rights organizations cooperating in Ukraine • Amnesty International Ukraine (suspended from 2009) • (Ukrainian) • International Society for Human Rights. Ukrainian Branch • (Ukrainian) • Moscow Helsinki Group.

Overview Ukraine had been labeled as "free" by organizations such as Freedom House in recent years. In their 2009 report on Ukraine they stated: "Ukraine has one of the most vibrant civil societies in the region. Citizens are increasingly taking issues into their own hands, protesting against unwanted construction, and exposing corruption. There were no limits seen on NGO activities. Trade unions function, but strikes and worker protests where infrequent observed, even though dissatisfaction with the state of economic affairs was pervasive in the fall of 2008.