Section: Human Rights Watch (USA)
EU-Ukraine: Backtracking on Human Rights
Expand European Council President Donald Tusk gives a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Brussels, Belgium, June 22, 2017. © 2017 Reuters (Brussels) – European Union leaders should press Ukraine at their July 12-13, 2017 summit meeting to fulfill its human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The...
Pro-Ukrainian blogger disappears in separatist-controlled area of eastern Ukraine
Two weeks ago, Stas called his mother to say he was on a bus entering Donetsk city, in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine. He was planning to visit her and his grandmother the next morning. She was excited. Stas had been traveling for work for days in other parts of Ukraine, and she missed him. However,...
Ukraine: Interactive dialogue on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights periodic update on Ukraine
Interactive dialogue on the OHCHR periodic update on Ukraine, 12 June 2017 Thank you Mr. President, Human Rights Watch welcomes the periodic reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine provided by the Office of the High Commissioner. We share the High Commissioner’s concerns over the impact repeated ceasefire violations in Eastern...
Ukraine: Revoke Ban on Dozens of Russian Web Companies
Expand Logos of Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks are seen on the screen of a payment terminal in this picture illustration taken May 16, 2017. © 2017 Reuters (Kyiv) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on May 15, 2017, signed a decree banning public access to Russian social media platforms, news outlets, and a …read more...
Ukraine: Prison Sentence for Academic in Separatist Region
(Kyiv) – A military tribunal in the separatist-held area of Ukraine’s Donetsk region convicted a professor with pro-Ukrainian views on trumped-up charges of illegal weapons possession on May 3, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The court sentenced the academic, Ihor Kozlovsky, to 32 months in prison. The de facto authorities of the...
Crimea: ‘Not Our Home Anymore’
“This used to be our home but it’s not anymore.” A Simferopol resident, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, told us this when we spoke with her in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia has occupied since February 2014. After three years, she no longer feels at home in the place where she grew up. Since occupying Crimea...
Ukraine: New Law Targets Anti-Corruption Activists, Journalists
(Kyiv) – Recent legislative amendment requires activists and journalists reporting on government corruption to file public declarations of their personal assets, Human Rights Watch said today. The new requirement is vague and could be used to deter or punish investigative journalists and partners of anti-corruption nongovernmental groups for...
Human Rights Council: Urge Parties in Eastern Ukraine to Protect Civilians as Fighting Resumes
Human Rights Watch welcomes the new periodic report and update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Several concerns described in the report have been areas of extensive Human Rights Watch research. First, we are gravely concerned about the safety of civilians living along the line of contact between areas controlled by the Ukrainian...
Ukraine Acts to Improve Diversity and Inclusion
Ukraine has taken another significant step toward the protection and inclusion of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. In early February, the Ministry of Health released for public discussion a draft medical form for patients choosing a family doctor, as part of broader healthcare reform. In the proposed...
LGBT Activists Freed After Being Held in Eastern Ukraine
Last week, I heard news I feared might never come: two Russian activists detained in eastern Ukraine had been freed, unharmed. Seroe Fioletovoe (Grey Violet), a Russian transgender person, and Victoria Miroshnichenko arrived in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) on January 31 and were immediately detained by DNR security...
