Human rights in Ukraine
Trade unions function, but strikes and worker protests were infrequently observed, even though dissatisfaction with the state of economic affairs was pervasive in the fall of 2008.
According to Freedom House, "Ukraine under President Yanukovych has become less democratic and, if current trends are left unchecked, may head down a path toward autocracy and kleptocracy.
"[17] Among the recent negative developments, they mentioned, "a more restrictive environment for the media, selective prosecution of opposition figures, worrisome intrusiveness by the Security Service of Ukraine, widely criticized local elections in October 2010 … and erosion of basic freedoms of assembly and speech."
[17] Also in 2011 Amnesty International spoke of "an increase in the number of allegations of torture and ill-treatment in police custody, restrictions on the freedom of speech and assembly, as well as mass manifestations of xenophobia".
[22] After Bucha, Lyman, Makariv, and Kherson were liberated from Russian occupation, Ukraine discovered mass graves containing bodies of civilians.
[28] Amendments to the constitution, which came into force, were detrimental to the right to receive a fair trial because they re-introduced the so-called general supervision by the prosecutor's office.
[29] Independent lawyers and human rights activists have complained Ukrainian judges regularly come under pressure to hand down a certain verdict.
[43] Following Ukraine's declaration of independence in 1991, the previous pro-Russian policies were reversed and the use of the Ukrainian language was actively encouraged and in certain areas, it was made compulsory.
[53] In 2007, in Ukraine's provinces numerous, anonymous attacks[54] and threats persisted against journalists, who investigated or exposed corruption or other government misdeeds.
[69][70] A May 2014 report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said that there were approximately 300 violent attacks on the media in Ukraine since November 2013.
[71] A crackdown on what authorities describe as "pro-separatist" points of view have triggered dismay among Western human rights monitors.
[72][nb 2] Ukraine has also shut down several television stations operated by Russia on the grounds that they spread Russian propaganda.
[74] According to Amnesty International, in 2021 the media were generally pluralistic and free, but some outlets were discriminated against by officials because of their perceived pro-Russian leaning.
[29][82] In Eastern Ukraine, the SBU conducted torture and human rights abuses for alleged pro-Russian separatists, according to 2016 reports.
[86] The existence of black sites was denounced by multiple reports of the UN monitoring mission in Ukraine,[87] Amnesty International[88] and Human Rights Watch.
[89] On 25 May 2016, the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) suspended its visit to Ukraine after the government denied it access to places in several parts of the country where it suspects these secret jails were located.
[83][90] In 2018 Amnesty International concluded that, "The investigation into the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) for its alleged secret prisons failed to make any progress.
[75] As reported by the Prosecutor General's Office, in March 2022 the European Court of Human Rights had ruled against Ukraine in 115 cases .
[75] The European Court found that Oleksandr Rafalsky had spent 15 years in prison despite good reasons to believe that his "confessions" had been extorted by torture.
But these important commitments are being undermined in the criminal justice and health systems by widespread human rights abuses against drug users, sex workers, and people living with HIV/AIDS.
[103][104] It was not recognized during the Soviet era, but in recent decades the issue became an important topic of discussion in Ukrainian society and among academic scholars.
According to the estimation of OSCE the violence towards women is widespread in Ukraine and it is associated with three times more deaths than the ongoing armed conflict in the eastern provinces of the country.
