Section: Human Rights Watch (USA)
Crimea is a Black Hole for Human Rights
Expand OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic, at the Permanent Council in Vienna, 16 January 2014. © 2014 OSCE/Micky Kroell The election of Dunja Mijatović as the new Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights is great news for human rights. Dunja Mijatović served as a special representative on media freedoms with the...
Ukraine Should Drop Bills Which Hamper Activists’ Work
Expand Lawmakers attend a parliament session in Kiev, Ukraine December 21, 2017. © 2017 Reuters A package of draft laws presented by the administration of Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, has lingered since the summer on the desks of Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Part of this package would annul a senseless legal provision...
Another Day, Another Tragedy in Crimea
Expand Vedzhie Kashka, August 2017. © 2017 RFE/RL Vedzhie Kashka, 83, is a powerful name in Crimea for her prominent role in the Crimean Tatar national movement and her work to defend rights of Crimean Tatars. She died in Simferopol on November 23, after Russia’s security services (FSB) raided a café where she was meeting …read more...
“100 Crimean Tatar Kids Who Lost Their Fathers”
Expand Statue of a Russian soldier in Simferopol, Crimea. The plaque reads: “To ‘Polite People’ from grateful residents of Crimea.” Local authorities installed the statue in 2016 to mark the events of February 2014, when Russian soldiers without insignia, referred to by local residents as “polite people,” took control over Crimea. © 2017...
Crimea: Persecution of Crimean Tatars Intensifies
Expand Law enforcement officials during a search in Bakhchysarai, Crimea on January 26, 2017 @ 2017 Anton Naumlyik RFE/RL (Berlin) – Russian authorities in Crimea have intensified persecution of Crimean Tatars, under various pretexts and with the apparent goal of completely silencing dissent on the peninsula, Human Rights Watch said today....
Crimea: Crimean Tatar Leader Convicted on Spurious Charges
(Kyiv) – A Russian court in Crimea on September 27, 2017, convicted a prominent Crimean Tatar leader on bogus separatism charges following an unfair trial, Human Rights Watch said today. The court imposed a two-year prison sentence and banned Ilmi Umerov, the Crimean Tatar leader, from involvement in public activities, which includes contact with...
Ukraine: Respect Human Rights and the Rule of Law
Human Rights Watch welcomes the Office of the High Commissioner’s periodic reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine. We value its excellent work in the country. We share the High Commissioner’s concerns over the impact repeated ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine have on civilians’ lives. The use by all sides to the...
Ukraine: NGOs need EU help
Ukraine is moving to undo a March 2017 law that imposed an excessive burden on anti-corruption activists to publicly report their income and assets. That’s good. But it will instead require NGOs to prepare extensive, onerous public reports about their funding and financial activities – which is bad. The European Union, and governments...
Ukraine: Woman Detained, Held Incommunicado, Tortured
(Berlin) – Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) arbitrarily detained a Ukrainian woman, held her incommunicado, and tortured her, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities charged the woman, Daria Mastikasheva, with treason, and a court in Dnipro has ordered her pretrial detention pending investigation. Mastikasheva, 29, a Ukrainian...
Crimea: Baseless Conviction of Crimean Tatar Leader
Expand Akhtem Chiygoz speaks to then Tatar deputy of the Ukraine’s parliament, Mustafa Jemilev. © 2006 Reuters (Kyiv) – A Russian court in Crimea on September 11, 2017, found a prominent Crimean Tatar leader guilty on charges of organizing “mass riots” following an unfair trial, Human Right Watch said today. The court sentenced the Crimean...
