In its annual human rights report on all nations released on March 3, the U.S. State Department highlighted several problems in Ukraine, including “corruption and official impunity.”
Among the “significant human rights problems” cited:
“Conflict- and occupation-related abuses: Russian-backed separatists in Donbas engaged in abductions, torture, and unlawful detention, employed child soldiers, stifled dissent, and restricted humanitarian aid. To a lesser extent, there were also reports of some of these practices by government forces. In Crimea, Russian occupation authorities systematically targeted perceived dissidents for abuse and politically motivated prosecution.
“Corruption and official impunity: The country suffered from impunity for corruption and deficiencies in the administration of justice. The Prosecutor General’s Office and the judicial system proved largely unable to convict perpetrators of past or current major corruption.
“Insufficient support for internally displaced persons: Russia’s occupation of Crimea and aggression in eastern Ukraine resulted in 1.7 million IDPs who faced continuing difficulties obtaining legal documents, education, pensions, and access to financial institutions and health care. During the year the government suspended all social payments for IDPs, pending verification of their presence in government-controlled territory, ostensibly to combat fraudulent payments.”
The executive summary of the report went on to cite other problems, including “alleged beatings and torture of detainees and prisoners, as well as harsh conditions in government-run prisons and detention facilities; nongovernmental attacks on journalists; societal violence against women and abuse of children; societal discrimination against and harassment of ethnic and religious minorities; trafficking in persons, including forced labor; discrimination and harassment against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons; and discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. There also were limitations on workers’ right to strike, and failure to enforce effectively labor laws and occupational safety and health standards for the workplace.”
Moroever, the State Department said: “The government generally failed to take adequate steps to prosecute or punish most officials who committed abuses, resulting in a climate of impunity.”
The report specifically cites acts of politically motivated killings, including the July 20 assassination of Ukrainska Pravda and Vesti radio station journalist Pavel Sheremet, killed by a car bomb while driving to work in a car belonging to his partner, Olena Prytula. The report noted that Sheremet had been “critical of Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian authorities. Authorities released a video of two individuals placing the device under the car. As of year’s end, the investigation remained open and authorities had made no arrests.”
Additionally, the lack of rule of law and judicial independence were cited in the report.
“While the constitution provides for an independent judiciary and the Verkhovna Rada passed a judicial reform package in June, courts were inefficient and remained vulnerable to political pressure and corruption. Confidence in the judiciary remained low,” the State Department found.
Read the entire U.S. State Department 2016 human rights report on Ukraine here
