The Authorised Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Human Rights Ombudsperson) Nina Karpachova is going to look at information about the alleged actions by members of the Party of the Regions in taking schoolchildren from the Cherkasy region to a political rally in Kyiv. The Ukrainian Service of Deutsche Welle was given this assurance by the Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Secretariat.

As the Co-Chair of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group Yevhen Zakharov explains, he has received official confirmation from the Head of the Chyhyryn District Administration Petro Lytvyn that at the beginning of April students from a local school were released from lessons and as an organized excursion to Kyiv were taken to Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Independence Square]. Each child was also promised 40 UH. In his appeal to Nina Karpachova, the human rights defender labelled this a violation of Article 39 of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of peaceful assembly, Article 51 of the Law on Education and a number of articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Yevhen Zakharov added that he has received a number of reports from those who have come to Kyiv saying that the organizers of rallies in support of the coalition gave them free transport and paid 100 UH per day, as well as thirty UH for food, to take part in protest actions. According to information published in the press, the overall cost of transporting several thousand people to Kyiv and paying for their participation in protest rallies is around 8 million UH per day.

http://www2.dw-world.de

For Yevhen Zakharov’s original report and appeal to Nina Karpachova, please see:

http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1176418410

http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1176283499

We will (it is entirely needless to stress!) be following Nina Karpachova’s investigation into this case.

Open letter to the Authorised Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Human Rights Ombudsperson)

N.I. Karpachova

Dear Nina Ivanivna,

On 4 April the evening news on Channel 1+1, then later the newspaper “Ukrainska moloda”, reported that

40 school children from the town of Chyhyryn in the Cherkasy region had been taken by the city representatives of the Party of the Regions to a political rally in Kyiv.

The reports can be found at the following sites:

http://www.osvita.org.ua/news/27272.html

http://www.umoloda.kiev.ua/number/893/113/32524/

In my opinion this warrants your intervention since there have been violations of Article 39 of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of peaceful assembly, Article 51 of the Law on Education and a number of articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

I would ask you to inform me of the results of your investigation into this incident and to take those measures set down in the Law on the Human Rights Ombudsperson to ensure that these seemingly outrageous incidents do not occur in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Yevhen Zakharov

Co-Chair of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group