There have been reports of sexual violence committed in the context of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine (see section 1.g.). According to the head of the SBU, Russia-led forces held 113 Ukrainian hostages in Donbas. The Russian-led forces equipped a prison with a torture section in the basement of the former factor where Leonid was also tortured.
Leonid was also interrogated and tortured in the "Ministry of State Security" (MGB) in Donetsk premises.
Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
Police later said they were looking for members of the Femen protest group, which has often staged semi-naked protests. The court's decision was made in the context of the case against Artem Sytnyk, the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), for allegedly revealing state secrets. On April 12, lawyers for both members of parliament visited the magazine's office and demanded that Novoye Vremya publish the story's retraction for reasons of national security.
During the year, citizens generally exercised the right to peacefully assemble without restriction in areas of the country under government control. Heads and members of the boards of anti-corruption NGOs had to submit their asset declarations by 1 April. Human rights groups noted that video footage of the events indicated that Filimonenko may have been sent by the country's security services to provoke a conflict with Shabunin and that the .
However, the government restricted these rights, particularly in the eastern part of the country near the conflict zone. While there were five border crossings, only four were in use for most of the year. Russian-led forces continued to hinder freedom of movement in the eastern part of the country.
On September 19, the Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation into whether there was criminal negligence on the part of the state authorities involved in Tumgoyev's extradition. As of July 1, only seven individuals had been granted refugee status since the beginning of the year.
Freedom to Participate in the Political Process
Homeless people had difficulty obtaining citizenship due to the requirement to present a document attesting to one's whereabouts.
Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
Persons who were either stateless or at risk of statelessness included Roma, homeless persons, current and former prisoners, and persons over 50 who never received a Ukrainian personal identification document after the collapse of the Soviet Union and were no longer in able to get one. The law requires establishing identity through a judicial process, which required more time and money than some applicants. HACC); on August 2, he signed an amendment into law clarifying the HACC's appeals processes.
Its success will depend on the integrity of the selection procedures for its judges and on the. In November, anti-corruption watchdogs expressed concern over apparent restrictions on the work of an international panel of experts that legislates. Observers alleged that the release of leaked conversations by the head of SAP in early 2018 indicated he was guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
The law requires public officials to file income and expenditure statements, and a special review process provides public access to statements and sets penalties for either not filing or filing a false statement. In July, Transparency International Ukraine noted that the NAPC had only fully reviewed 300 declarations out of 2.5 million that had been submitted, and had identified several serious gaps in its verification procedures. Observers noted that the NAPC's announcement in December that it would open criminal charges related to party financing against the main opposition Batkivshchyna party and several smaller parties after years of general inactivity raised concerns that it could be used for political purposes ahead of the election cycle in 2019.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights
NAPC) is responsible for reviewing financial statements, monitoring the income and expenditure of high-level officials, and checking party finances. However, observers have increasingly questioned whether the NAPC has the capacity and independence to fulfill this function, noting that in practice NABU has proven to be more effective at overseeing declarations, even though this was not its core mandate. On 25 September, the NAPC launched 'automated' verification of statements, which it said would enable easier identification of statements at 'high risk' of fraud.
Observers noted serious flaws in this automated procedure and doubted that it would lead to improved verification. Government Human Rights Bodies: The constitution provides for a human rights ombudsman, officially designated as the Legislative Commissioner for Human Rights. The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman regularly worked with NGOs through Citizens' Advisory Boards on various projects to monitor human rights practices in prisons and other government institutions.
The Office of the Ombudsman collaborated with leading local human rights groups and acted as advocates on behalf of Crimean Tatars, IDPs, Roma, people with disabilities, LGBTI individuals and prisoners. The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson has collaborated with NGOs in various projects to monitor human rights practices in various institutions, including detention centers, orphanages and boarding schools for children, as well as geriatric institutions.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
According to the NGO La Strada, the conflict in the Donbas region has sparked a wave of violence against women across the country. Women's rights groups reported continued and widespread sexual harassment, including forced sex, at work. Romani rights groups reported that early marriages to girls under the age of 18 were common in the Romani community.
Domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies have reported that a significant amount of child pornography on the Internet still originates in the country. According to the census and international Jewish groups, there were about 103,600 Jews living in the country, which represented about 0.2 percent of the population. According to the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities (VAAD), there were approximately 300,000 persons of Jewish descent in the country, although the number could be higher.
Before the Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine, according to the VAAD, about 30,000 Jews lived in the Donbas area. Disabled people in Russian-controlled areas in the east of the country suffered from a lack of adequate care. During the year, many Roma left settlements in areas controlled by Russian-led forces and moved to other parts of the country.
Worker Rights
The law prohibits strikes by broad categories of workers, including personnel in the Attorney General's Office, the judiciary, the armed forces, the security services, law enforcement agencies, the transport sector and the public services sector. Child labor in illegal coal and amber mines in territories controlled by Russian-led forces increased during the year. The gap was not caused by direct wage discrimination, but by horizontal and vertical stratification of the labor market: women were more likely to work in lower-paid sectors of the economy and in lower positions.
According to an NGO, employers in the metal and mining industry often violated the rule and retaliated against workers by pressuring them to quit. Total wage arrears in the country rose over the year to September 1 to 3.6 billion hryvnias ($97.6 million). The Independent Union of Mineworkers of Ukraine reported that arrears in the coal sector had reached nearly 930 million hryvnias ($33.2 million) in September.
Labor inspections took place at the request of a company or at the formal request of the investigator in the context of a criminal case against a company. Despite Russian aggression close to industrial areas in the government-controlled areas of the Donbas region, companies involved in mining, energy, media, retail. Territorial Integrity of Ukraine” of 27 March 2014, and Resolution 73/263 on the “Situation of Human Rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol (Ukraine)” of 22 December 2018, States and.
Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from
For example, on June 28, members of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) searched a Crimean Tatar activist. According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, as of early October, 17 Crimean Tatar defendants had undergone psychiatric evaluation and. Human rights monitors reported that the occupation authorities also threatened individuals with violence or imprisonment if they did not testify in court against individuals the authorities believed to be against the occupation.
According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, 31 Crimean prisoners have been transferred to the Russian Federation since the occupation began in 2014. According to the human rights groups, human rights abuses committed by both the Russian occupation authorities and Crimean "self-defense" have gone completely unpunished . forces." HRMMU noted the prevalence of members of the Crimean Tatar community among those arrested during police raids.
There were reports that the authorities detained people for "abusing" the Russian flag or other symbols of the Russian occupation. According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, after the occupation of Crimea began, many local journalists left Crimea or gave up their profession. The Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service (RosFinMonitoring) included prominent critics of the occupation on its list of extremists and terrorists.
According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, Russian authorities prosecuted private employers who continued to employ Ukrainians. A Crimean human rights group has documented incidents in which the occupation authorities forced residents to vote in elections.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons Children
Occupation authorities refused to cooperate with independent human rights NGOs, ignored their views and harassed human rights monitors, threatening them with fines and imprisonment. In 2016, the Ukrainian government introduced a process by which births in Crimea could be recognized with documents issued by occupation authorities. Occupation authorities harassed Crimean Tatars for speaking their language in public and forbade speaking it in the workplace.
Occupation authorities imposed restrictions on the spiritual administration of Crimean Muslims, which were closely associated with Crimean Tatars. Nevertheless, the Russian occupation authorities continued to ban the Mejlis and place restrictions on Crimean Tatars. Russian occupation authorities targeted businesses and property belonging to ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars for expropriation and seizure.
Russian occupation authorities prohibited Crimean Tatars affiliated with the Mejlis from registering businesses or properties as a matter of policy. Russian occupation authorities announced that Ukraine's labor laws would no longer be in force after the start of 2016 and that only the laws of the Russian Federation would apply. Russian occupation authorities imposed Russian Federation labor laws and regulations on Crimean workers, limited labor rights and created.
