U.S. State Department report gives Ukraine less-than-passing grade on human rights (03/10/02)

U.S. State Department report gives Ukraine less-than-passing grade on human rights

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Ukraine received what appears to be a less-than-passing grade in the U.S. State Department's worldwide human rights review for 2001.

Although noting "improvements in a few areas," the authors of the report released on March 4 were blunt in there overall assessment: "The government's human rights record was poor," they said.

Acknowledging that the Verkhovna Rada adopted a progressive criminal code that went into effect in September, the report notes that detainees and prisoners continue to be tortured, beaten and at times killed by police and prison officials, who are rarely punished for their abuses.

Conditions in Ukrainian prisons "remained harsh and life-threatening, particularly because of exposure to disease," according to the report. It cited arbitrary arrests and lengthy pre-trial detentions "in very poor conditions" as a continuing problem, but added that the number of defendants released from confinement pending trial had increased during 2001.

The country's judicial system suffered from political interference and corruption, inefficiency, lack of sufficient funding and staff, according to the report.

The Ukrainian government continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights, the report said, and its agencies "interfered indirectly in the political process through criminal and tax investigations of politicians, journalists and influential businessmen."

The news media and journalists were also the object of official intimidation via the application of libel laws, the report said. "Nevertheless," it added, "a wide range of opinion is available in newspapers and periodicals."

While the freedom of assembly, association and movement were in some cases restricted, the report noted the decision of the Constitutional Court rescinding as unconstitutional the Soviet-holdover "propyska" system, which limited the free movement of people within the country.

Also on the positive side of the ledger, the report said that the government continued to return properties expropriated during the Soviet era to religious groups and that, while "societal" anti-Semitism persisted, there was a continued decrease in anti-Semitic acts and publications, and an increase in government action against anti-Semitism.

"Anti-Semitic incidents continued to occur but, according to local Jewish organizations, declined in number and were concentrated in western regions of the country," the report said.

As in previous years, the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices painted a shocking picture of the plight of women in Ukraine, where violence against them was termed "pervasive." The report cited surveys that indicated that "between 10 and 15 percent of women in Ukraine had been raped, and that over 25 percent were abused physically during their lifetimes. And, according to a study by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, 20 percent of Ukrainian women age 17 to 21 faced attempted rape in the previous year.

While there are no official statistics on prosecutions for wife beating, the Institute of Sociological Research reported that 12 percent of women under the age of 28 had been victims of domestic violence.

There are reports of "widespread sexual harassment in the workplace, including coerced sex," and women bear the brunt of increased unemployment resulting from the economic downturn. According to the State Committee on Statistics, of the 4.2 percent officially listed as unemployed in Ukraine, 65 to 70 percent are women.

The U.S. report also cited the increased harassment of some racial minorities as a growing problem in Ukraine: "The police routinely detained dark-skinned persons for arbitrary document checks, whereas document checks of foreigners of European descent are performed rarely."

The U.S. State Department prepares its worldwide report on human rights practices annually and presents it to the U.S. Congress. The preparation and presentation of the 2001 report was placed in the context of the global fight against terrorism following the terrorist attacks of September 11.

In his introduction to the report, Assistant Secretary of State Lorne W. Craner of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor underscored that "only through the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms can the international community be secure from the scourge of terrorism."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed that countries which are potential members of the anti-terrorism coalition will not be given a free pass on their human rights record.

"The United States welcomes the help of any country or party that is genuinely prepared to work with us to eradicate terrorism," he said during a briefing March 4. "At the same time, we will not relax our commitment to advancing the cause of human rights and democracy."

The State Department's human rights reports can be seen on the Internet at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/.

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