17.01.2013

Anti-discrimination Coalition teaches the Disabled to fight for their rights

On 12 January 2013 Ukraine’s Prime Minister instructed the Health Ministry together with the Minister for Regional Development to draw up amendments to the conditions for licensing chemists, as well as medical establishments so as to ensure access for people with disabilities. This time the licensing requirements with regard to the technical conditions for medical establishments must be unequivocal, well-thought-out and mandatory.

05.10.2012

Law banning „promotion of homosexuality” just as dangerous as libel law

Ihor Rozkladai from the Media Law Institute is adamant that a law which envisages imprisonment for “promotion of homosexuality” is just as dangerous as the law on libel. He stresses that the main danger in the law lies in the fact that there is no clarity in the bill as to what “promotion” actually means.

03.10.2012

MPs support homophobia

Having put criminalization of libel on hold, Ukrainian MPs on 2 October passed in its first reading a draft law prohibiting what they call “promotion of homosexuality”.

12.09.2012

Call for real measures against discrimination, not empty phrases

A number of human rights organizations including the Coalition against Discrimination in Ukraine; the Kharkiv Human Rights Group and Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union have called on President Yanukovych to veto Law No. 10468 On the principles for preventing and countering discrimination in Ukraine. The law was adopted by parliament on 8 September.

10.09.2012

Self-Defence is No Offence!

Civic activists are speaking out in defence of Olaola Sunkami Femi, a 26-year-old Nigerian student who came to Ukraine in 2007 and began studying in the Luhansk National University. He should have been graduating this year, but instead has spent the last 9 months in a Ukrainian SIZO [remand unit].

14.06.2012

Crimean Tatars demand broadcasting time

13 journalists from the Crimean Tatar programmes on the State-owned TV Channel “Krym” [Crimea] have issued a statement demanding increased broadcasting time, improved technical facilities; the addition to staff of a translator; as well as an end to pressure on journalists.

06.06.2012

Human rights group slams yet another deadweight anti-discrimination bill

Parliament is due to vote on a draft bill “On the principles for preventing and countering discrimination in Ukraine”. The No Borders Project is sharply critical of both the bill itself and the way it was pushed through, carrying the danger that it will be yet another empty law for appearances with public opinion having been ignored.

05.06.2012

Gypsy Camp set alight in Kyiv – “for Euro 2012”

On the eve of Euro 2012 the authorities would appear o have set light to a gypsy camp and killed one of the camp dogs in Kyiv, leaving up to 60 people homeless.

17.05.2012

Entitled to wheelchair access

Disabled access – or the lack of it – remains a major problem in Ukraine where public buildings often don’t even have ramps. Between 500 and 1,000 people in each regional centre are thus deprived of mobility.

12.03.2012

Protest over religious discrimination in the Crimea

Volodymyr Prytula reports that 100 well-known Ukrainians from the Crimea have called on President Yanukovych to protect the Ukrainian population of the Crimea from religious discrimination.

26.01.2012

Resolution CM/ResCMN(2011)8 on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by Ukraine

Ukraine has continued to pay due attention to the protection of national minorities and some steps have been taken to reform the existing legislative framework pertaining to minority protection. For example, the draft Concept on Ethnic Policy, which provides for a number of measures conducive to strengthening intercultural and interethnic dialogue, has been finalised and a wide public discussion is now due to start on this document.

26.01.2012

Ukrainian authorities must investigate violent police raid against roma

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is urging Ukrainian authorities to investigate a violent police raid on a Roma settlement in Uzgorod. The ERRC sent a letter to the police chief and prosecutor regarding the incident, which took place on 11 January, 2012.

28.10.2011

UHHRU condemns plan to bring in liability for “propaganda of homosexuality”

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union has addressed an open letter to the Speaker of Parliament and chairs of various parliamentary committees regarding a bill which proposes introducing liability for what it calls “propaganda of homosexuality”.

25.10.2011

Disabled people not heard in Ukraine

Ukraine’s cities are completing preparations for Euro 2012. Yet virtually all places have problems with disabled access.

19.09.2011

Undeclared war waged by Sumy skinheads?

The Internet publication Vash shans [Your Chance] reports on a frightening case of arson committed against foreign – and black – medical students.

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