We would like to offer you the Briefer#3 of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union for November-December 2014 issued within Human Rights in Action Program supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

One could speak a lot on the injustice in the field of employment rights, dependence upon senior management, low salaries, illegal dismissals, however unfortunately until people unite and gain powerful remedies for their rights nothing will change.

In Ukraine military men in the area of ATO, their families and migrants are in need of legal aid. The representatives of volunteer movements in border areas, including Regions of Kherson, Odesa and Chernihiv, told about the issues on which the above mentioned population categories apply to lawyers of counselling offices of public organizations most often.

A month ago the defenders announced a range of high profile cases of Ukrainian border guards’ unlawful activities at the administrative border with the Crimea. The matter concerned the facts of demanding explanations as for “why a citizen of Ukraine wants to move across Ukraine”, destroying passports etc. The State Border Service made notice of the representatives of Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union and initiated the creation of an allied platform for resolving these issues.

Human rights defenders state that Crimea occupation by Russian troops, artificially maintained separatist movements in the East gradually turned into armed aggression, and full-scale military conflict with Russian Federation in Regions of Donetsk and Lugansk have put the human rights problems to the backstage.

On December 2, 2014 a new threat of creation of the Ministry of Information Policy was added to the traditional threats to human rights, which the Ukrainian community continues to face in these difficult times of challenges associated with the hostilities in the Eastern Ukraine and occupation of Crimea by Russia. Formally declared motive of its creation is to protect the Ukrainian information space of Russian propaganda and to fight an information war in the other states, but in reality, this ministry has to become an institutionalized body of state control over the freedom of speech, an official censor, which aims to set standards of media and to monitor compliance with these standards.

Statistics shows that 95% judgments of the European Court and about 70% judgments of domestic courts are not satisfied in Ukraine. This means that the right of Ukrainians to a fair trial is permanently violated. Especially if the state is a debtor. Among the reasons for such a situation the human rights activists call: a moratorium on the sale of state enterprises’ assets, the lack of proper control over the execution of the court judgments and the lack of effective judicial protection of property rights.

The human rights community hopefully accepted your initiative on development of the National Strategy on Human Rights as defined by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 811/2014 as of October 15, 2014.

We, the below undersigned representatives of Ukrainian, Russian and international civil society, are gravely concerned about the recent crisis that threatens the Helsinki principles and the efficiency of the existing OSCE mechanisms to address challenges in all the three dimensions of security, in particular the human dimension;

Media education Cinema Clubs on human rights Docudays UA started working at the higher education institutions of the penitentiary system this year. Now future prison and pretrial facilities workers have the opportunity to year-round watch the best movies of the International Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights Docudays UA, to discuss them, to invite interesting people - human rights defenders, social activists, writers and others – to discussion. The festival team prepared the first collection of ten films on DVD. Moreover, for better perception by the audience the foreign films were not only translated but post-synchronized in Ukrainian.

Human rights activists have appealed to the court to revoke unlawful provisions, contained in the NBU Resolution No. 669 On the Crimean Ukrainians and require compensation for moral damages in the amount of UAH 16 thousand, because now Crimeans are limited in their rights to use the basic banking services: opening accounts, foreign currency exchange, payments etc.

Human rights activists have selected 40 lawyers from all over Ukraine, who will be taught to effectively protect human rights by using international mechanisms.

On 25 November 2014 the European Court of Human Rights invited the Russian Government to submit its observations on the admissibility of two inter-State applications lodged by the Government of Ukraine under Article 33 (Inter-State cases) of the European Convention on Human Rights against the Russian Federation.

We would like to offer you the Briefer#2 of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union for November-December 2014 issued within Human Rights in Action Program supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

More than half a million of our fellow citizens who have left their homes, work, everyday life running away from the massive violations of human rights in the Crimea and the eastern Ukraine to save their lives from day to day are waiting for the entry into force of this Law. Volunteers and advocates, and the whole international community are also waiting for it. The relevant statements were made by the UN, the Council of Europe, and the European Commission. The law opens the door for an international charitable assistance to immigrants and assistance to the country in addressing this problem. Delays in the adoption of this law for a long time had a negative impact on the international image of Ukraine.