HUMAN RIGHTS IN UKRAINE – 2008 HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS REPORT UKRAINIAN HELSINKI HUMAN RIGHTS UNION «PRAVA LUDYNY» 2009 ББК 67.9(4УКР) In preparing the cover, the work «Judith with the head of Holofernes» of Alex Savransky was used (www.petik.com) Designer Boris Zakharov Editors Yevgeniy Zakharov, Volodymyr Yavorsky The book is published with the assistance of the National Endowment for Democracy Human Rights in Ukraine – 2008. Report by Human Rights Organisations. / Editors: Y.Zakharov, V.Yavorsky / Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. – Kharkiv: Prava Ludyny, 2009. – 284 p. ISBN 978-966-8919-72-5. This book considers the human rights situation in Ukraine during 2008, it is based on studies by various non-governmental human rights organizations and specialists in this area. Each unit concen- trates on identifying and analysing violations of specific rights in this period, as well as discussing any positive moves which were made in protecting the given rights. Current legislation which encourages infringements of rights and freedoms is also analyzed, together with draft laws which could change the situation. The conclusions of the research contain recommendations for eliminating the violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms and improving the overall situation. ББК 67.9(4УКР) © Compiled by Yevgeniy Zakharov, Volodymyr Yavorsky, 2009 © Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, 2009 ISBN 978-966-8919-72-5 © Cover design by Boris Zakharov, 2009 Judith – is a figure from the «Book of Judith» in the Biblical Apocry- pha. According to the legend, the city of Bethulia was besieged by Assyrian troops led by General Holofernes. The inhabitants faced starvation. The daring Judith steals into the camp of the enemy and conquers Holofernes with her beauty. The General organizes a huge banquet and finally, drunk, falls asleep. Judith cuts off his head, and returns to Bethulia. The Assyrian warriors, seeking the severed head of their leader on the city walls, flee in despair. The image of Judge was very popular in European literature, painting and music, the story being an example of courage of the local inhabitants before conquerors. In 1456 Donatello made a bronze statue «Judith and Hololoferne» as an allegory for the battle of Florentine liberty against tyranny. In 1465 the sculp- ture was placed on the Piazza della Signoria. The severed head of Holofernes represented the ousted Medici family, while Judith epitomized the Florentine Republic which had freed itself. This motif was used by Michelangelo, Boticelli, Giorgione, Titian, Ver- nonese, Karavagio, Pembrandt, Rubens and others, while in music by Scar- latti, Vivaldi, Mozart and others. HUMAN RIGHTS IN UKRAINE – 2008. HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS REPORT FROM THE EDITORS The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union and the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group would like to gratefully acknowledge the enormous help offered us in creating this report. ♦ The organizations which kindly provided material for this report: ♦ The Centre for Judges’ Studies {Kyiv) ♦ The Centre for Law and Political Research «SiM» (Lviv) ♦ The Centre for Political and Legal Reform (Kyiv) ♦ The Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre ♦ The Civic Advocacy Centre (Lviv) ♦ The Civic Organization «Donetsk Memorial» ♦ The Civic Organization «Helsinki Initiative-XXI» (Chortkiv, Ternopil region) ♦ The Civic Organization «Social Action» (Kyiv) ♦ The Civic Environmental and Humanitarian Association «Zeleny Svit» [«Green World»] ♦ The Committee on Monitoring Press Freedom in the Crimea ♦ The Congress of National Communities of Ukraine ♦ The Information and Educational Centre «Women’s Network» ♦ The Independent Cultural Journal «Ї» ♦ The Institute of Mass Information (Kyiv) ♦ The International Organization for Migration (IOM) ♦ The International Women’s Human Rights Centre «La Strada – Ukraine» ♦ The Kharkiv Institute of Social Research ♦ The Kherson Regional Charity and Health Foundation ♦ The Kherson Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine ♦ The Luhansk Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine ♦ The «Maidan» Alliance ♦ The National Assembly of Disabled Persons ♦ The Network for the Development of European Law (Kyiv) ♦ The Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU) ♦ The «Respublica» Institute for Economic and Social Issues (Kyiv) ♦ The Sumy Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine ♦ The Ukrainian Association «Zeleny Svit» ♦ The Ukrainian Independent Centre of Political Research ♦ The Women’s Consortium of Ukraine ♦ Human Rights Watch The authors and co-authors of particular units, as well as the researchers of material used here: Taras Antoshevsky; Valentina Badyra; Oleksandr Banchuk; Yuri Belousov; Dementiy Belyy; Oleksandr Bukalov; Maksim Butkevych; Arkady Bushchenko; Volodymyr Chemerys; Kateryna Cherepakha; Andriy Chernousov; Yury Chumak, Tetyana Doroshok, Iryna Fedorovych, Andriy Gel, Olha Kalashnyk; Denis Kobzin; Roman Kuybida; Kateryna Levchenko; Viacheslav Lichachev, FROM EDITORS Iryna Magdysh, Oleh Martynenko; Oksana Nesterenko; Andriy Olenyuk; Volodymyr Ponoma- renko; Volodymyr Prytula, Viktor Pushkar, Vsevolod Rechytsky; Mykhailo Romanov; Mykola Se- mena Oleksandr Severyn; Maksim Shcherbatyuk; Oleksandr Stepanenko; Oleksiy Svyetkov, Gen- nadiy Tokarev; Ruslan Topolevsky; Yaryna Volvach, Irina Yakovets; Vasylyna Yavorska, Viacheslav Yakubenko This report would not have been possible without the support and assistance of Halyna Bu- divska, Volodymyr Derkachov, Irayida Fesenko, Marina Hovorukhina, Iryna Kuchynska, Oleh Myroshnychenko, Oleksandr Pavlychenko, Oleksandr Savransky, Vitaly Svyatsky, Olha Tsilyk, Vo- lodymyr Uryvay, Ludmila Yelcheva and Boris Zakharov We would like also to express our gratitude to the National Endowment for Democracy (USA), who provided financial assistance for the preparation of this Report. Yevgeniy Zakharov, Volodymyr Yavorsky HUMAN RIGHTS IN UKRAINE – 2008. HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS REPORT GENerAL OVerVieW of VioLAtioNS of HUMAN rights AND FUNDAmeNTAL freedoms Our report concerns the human rights situation in Ukraine in 2008. It would be difficult to give a simple description of the varied tapestry which the human rights situation presented during this period. There was, on the one hand, a political crisis, which prevented necessary reforms – constitu- tional, judicial, administrative, reform of the criminal justice system, etc. The struggle of political opponents for power led to the politicization of any issue where each step of the authorities, new draft law or appointment to a post, was assessed purely from the point of view of gaining advantage in the political battle. This battle had an extremely adverse effect on the level to which the State apparatus was governable, and led to an increase in unlawful acts by the local authorities which paid virtually no heed to the recommendations of the central authorities. On top of the political crisis the second half of 2008 brought a full-scale economic crisis which the government had difficulty coping with, especially due to the loss of control and impossibility of swiftly drawing up and adopting decisions. The economic crisis hit the poorest layers of society hardest, as well as the middle class. Those on low incomes found it even harder to survive because of the rise in prices and inflation, the increase in tariffs on communal services and the lack of adequate social protection. They became even more dependent on their employers, the relations with whom are often feudal-like. Unemployment, including concealed, rose considerably, and to a large extent also affected qualified workers and office workers. The fall in GNP was the worst in Europe, and the already great divide between the standards of living of rich and poor widened still further. In these conditions the situation with social and economic rights in general could only dete- riorate, especially given that safeguarding and defending human rights was not a priority for those in power. As in 2007, the government again suspended the fulfilment of economic and social rights in the Budget for 2008 despite the judgment of the Constitutional Court prohibiting the suspension in implementing these rights via the annual law on the Budget. That is, the government is demon- stratively choosing not to enforce the judgment of the Constitutional Court on the protection of socio-economic rights. On the other hand the presence of political competition and a certain degree of freedom of speech positively affect the level of self-awareness of society which is becoming more mature and able to think clearly. An idiosyncrasy of Ukrainian society with regard to authoritarian rule contin- ues to be its political pluralism which is a good way of preventing the victory of one authoritarian political force over others. Society is looking for new ways of overcoming the crisis, including for protecting human rights. Human rights organizations have become stronger and have forced the authorities to take their assessments and proposals into account. They have in some issues achievement certain changes for the better. One can cite dozens of examples of successful action by human rights groups in 2008 however these successes drown in a huge sea of human rights violations. 1 Prepared by Yevgeniy Zakharov, Co-Chair of KHPG. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF VIOLations OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDamentaL FREEDOMS As a result, there remains a general assessment by the population of their position as being unprotected. Human rights organizations have gained sufficient