Section: Human Rights Watch (USA)
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...
The Crossing
I get out of bed at 5 a.m., just as the curfew is being lifted in Donetsk, the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) in eastern Ukraine. It’s pitch dark outside and I feel privileged — really and truly privileged — to be able to afford to pay $25 for three extra hours of sleep and a significant risk reduction....
Ukraine: Dangers, Unnecessary Delays at Crossing Points
(Kyiv) – Ukrainian civilians are exposed to risks to their health and safety – even grave danger – as they face endless waits when they need to go back and forth across the contact line between government-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine and the separatist-held Luhansk and Donetsk regions, Human Rights Watch said today. Lack of adequate...
Ukraine: Activists ‘Disappeared’ in Separatist Territory
(Kyiv) – А Russian lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activist and another person have been missing since January 31, 2017, in the separatist-controlled area of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, and are feared to be victims of enforced disappearances, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch is concerned that the de...
‘Grad Rockets’ Return to Eastern Ukraine?
As fighting has flared up between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine over these past two days, we have spoken to people trapped on both sides of the line of contact. “Here we go again,” groans a friend in separatist-controlled Donetsk. “Just as you get used to the relative quiet, it’s Groundhog Day all over...
Crimea: Defense Lawyers Harassed
(Kyiv) – Russian authorities have detained two human rights lawyers who represent prominent Crimean Tatar leaders, Human Rights Watch said today. The lawyers’ clients are being prosecuted on politically motivated charges in retaliation for their activism. Emil Kurbedinov, who was detained on January 26, 2017, and Nikolai Polozov, detained...
