Despite some positive shifts, the situation with human rights in Ukraine remains unfavorable. To such a conclusion came the American human rights organization Human Rights Watch in the report published on Wednesday, on January, 20th, in New York. The main problems of Ukraine named by the observers are animosities to refuge-seekers, attacks on representatives of national minorities and inability of the power to cope with HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Among positive changes in Ukraine Human Rights Watch names introduction of reform of criminal justice system. As a result law-enforcement agencies started to observe better procedural requirements and to treat arrested persons with mental problems.
However in Ukraine are still wide-spread willful detentions, tortures in jails, corruption, and the judicial system is weak.
According to the American legal experts, in Ukraine there is no accurate migratory policy and the law concerning refuge-seekers is too rigid. Only 3 % of those who asks protection in Ukraine receive such refuge. Thus in the State Committee on nationalities and migration was prepared the bill for the situation improvement.
For now operates the old law, in 2009 Ukraine continued to refuse in the status of refugee to Chechens, without recognizing the war as the appropriate basis for refuge granting.
In September of the last year, despite protests of the Supreme Commissariat of the United Nations on affairs of refugees, Ukraine deported 6 citizens of Congo. In June the Ukrainian power transferred to the Office of Public Prosecutor of Kazakhstan confidential documents on the case of 4 Kazakhstan citizens asking for shelter in Ukraine. Kazakhstan issued against them criminal case, and Ukraine thus had broken its law on refugees.
Human Rights Watch notices that in Ukraine in 2009 proceeded attacks on migrants, refuge-seekers, foreign students, rums, and other people of not Slavic appearance. So in January, 2009 from knife wounds died a young Nigerian, but the militia at once denied the racial factor though it had no other strong proofs.
To stop the bloodshed, Ukraine is advised to introduce accurate legal responsibility for crimes on racial ground. And to victims of such crimes should be opened an appropriate access to justice.
Besides, observers notice that discrimination in Ukraine is also felt by the Crimean Tatars. It concerns the agrarian question, access to education and their native language. When in July the group of youths attacked picket of the Crimean Tatars before the Ministry building, militia only observed it, as it is stated in the report.
As a positive, legal experts see that the Ukrainian government expanded access of HIV-infected of Ukrainians to anti-retrovirus therapies, and drug addicts to the therapy on replacement of drugs under medical supervision, though scales of such programs are less than the need in them.
Human Rights Watch, however, notices that ten thousand of HIV-infected and sick of cancer Ukrainians suffer, because they cannot receive anaesthetizing, rules of access to which in Ukraine are too severe.
As for the freedom of speech, the American observers welcome progress in investigation of murder of the journalist George Gongadze. Ukraine received praise for arrest of the general Alexey Pukach who is suspected in participation in the crime order.
On the other hand, indignation of legal experts caused consideration in the Supreme Council in June, 2009, of a bill about protection of public morals. There are fears that such document can become an occasion to issue criminal cases against journalists, after all the concept "public morals" can be treated rather widely and subjectively.
By QHA
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