HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF REPORT OF UKRAINE

Human Rights Committee
73rd session
16 October 2001
Afternoon




In Preliminary Responses, Cites Concern over Ill-Treatment
of Detainees, Restrictions on Rights During States of
Emergency



The Human Rights Committee completed this afternoon its consideration of a fifth periodic report of Ukraine, citing concern, in preliminary conclusions, over maltreatment of detainees, over manifestations of anti-Semitism in the country, over Governmental power to suspend the right to freedoms of thought and religion during states of emergency, and over under representation of women in Parliament and in high-level Government and private-sector positions.

The Committee said much progress had been made in the five years since the country's last report, including through adoption of a new Constitution with a strong bill of rights, establishment of a powerful and heavily used Ombudsman's office, and eradication of the death penalty.

The Committee termed the report thorough in terms of information provided on laws and norms, but said it lacked detail on the day-to-day situation in the country. The panel's official conclusions and recommendations will be issued towards the end of its autumn session on 2 November.

Earlier in the afternoon, an eight-member Government delegation answered questions from Committee members on alleged harassment of journalists, State subsidies for newspapers and electronic media, and the required registration of political parties and religious organizations, among other topics.

The Ukrainian delegation, led by Olexander Paseniuk, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, presented the report on Monday. Ukraine, as one of the 148 States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is required to provide periodic accountings to the Committee on efforts to implement the Covenant's provisions.

The Committee completed its afternoon meeting in private. It will reconvene in plenary at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 17 October, to begin review of a fifth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


Discussion

Responding to questions put at the end of the morning meeting and the beginning of the afternoon meeting, the Ukrainian delegation said, among other things, that the Ukrainian penitentiary system was an independent Government body and not under any ministry. Those who carried out arrests -- the militia, the police, and other agencies -- were allowed to conduct interrogations and investigations. Legal counsel was allowed from the moment an arrest was made, with the State paying the legal fees if a defendant could not afford it. Since about 30 per cent of the population lived below the poverty level, that was often the case -- in 1999, some 13,000 cases had received free legal aid. Reforms now under way would help to ensure independence for the judiciary and the prosecutor's office.

There was a problem with ill-treatment of detainees, the delegation said; the Ombudsman's office was involved in fighting this difficulty, and recent legislation had established criminal liability for authorities committing torture. There had been over 184 cases and more than 200 members of the police had been charged in the year 2000.

Solitary confinement had been applied to just over 3,000 people in 1999 out of some 280,000 prisoners, the delegation said. There had been deaths in solitary confinement, mostly because there was a problem with tuberculosis; there also had been some suicides. Creation of a special penitentiary department had improved conditions and in recent years there had been a sharp drop in the suicide rate.

Currently, 39 members of Parliament, or 8 per cent, were women, the delegation said. It was true that there was a shortage of women in high Government positions. Still, the situation had improved over a few years ago. Women still accounted for over 70 per cent of the unemployed; and in rural areas of what was still a predominantly rural country, there were virtually no women managers.

Protection of journalists was a serious problem, the delegation said; a set of protective measures was being developed involving the prosecutor's office, the security forces, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Threats to journalists were taken very seriously. Former provisions providing for criminal penalties for libel against those criticizing Government officials no longer applied, and it was likely that one case mentioned by the Committee, which had not yet come to trial, would be ruled null and void.

As for freedom of religion and registration of religious organizations, the delegation said, minorities had the same rights to religious freedom as other citizens. A committee kept track of registration of religious organizations and Jewish religious organizations were among those registered. The Constitution defined religion and the concept was generally accepted. Currently around 100 religious organizations were registered. Non-traditional faiths and innovative religious movements had been apparent in recent years; there were around 1,000 such organizations, most having very small memberships. As long as such organizations did not have in their rules or charters violations of the law, they could not be prohibited, although it was possible, as one Committee member had said, that some could have negative psychological effects on citizens.

Currently more than 800 electronic mass media were registered in Ukraine, the delegation said; newspaper readership among the population was low and a source of concern for the Government. More than 80 per cent of the media had been privatized and did not receive State support, and that percentage was growing; there was a State television network. There was a serious problem related to freedom of speech in that some media belonged to oligarchic structures and it was difficult for alternative sources to establish themselves. But the media was vocal and dissent was often strident. Freedom of speech and expression were vibrant in the country.

Some 180,000 communications had been received by the Ombudsman's office in three years, the delegation said, and it was not possible for the staff to handle that workload by itself, but outside experts were regularly invited to help; the Ombudsman tried to ensure that anyone who wrote received a reply. Complaints were ranked according to seriousness and dealt with accordingly.

Political parties had to register, the delegation said; the Ministry of Justice could refuse registration to parties determined to be illegal in their aims or operations; refusals had to be explained in writing.

There were alternatives to military service based on religious conviction, the delegation said, under a law recently amended. The period of alternative service was two years.


Preliminary conclusions and recommendations

Official conclusions and recommendations will be issued towards the end of the Committee's autumn session on 2 November. In preliminary remarks, the Committee termed the Ukrainian report thorough in terms of information provided on laws and norms, but said it lacked detail on the day-to-day situation in the country.

Considerable progress had been made over the five years since Ukraine's previous report, the Committee said; a new Constitution containing an extensive bill of rights had been adopted; an Ombudsman's bureau had been set up which had carried out extensive investigations and had received numerous complaints of human rights violations; a new Constitutional Court had been established and many new laws enacted to improve the human rights situation; the death penalty had been abolished; and libel had been decriminalized.

The status of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the Ukrainian legal hierarchy was not high enough, the Committee said, because it was not given explicit predominance over domestic law. The concept of national minorities was vague and undefined; a distinction appeared to have been made between nationality and citizenship, and it was not clear whether national minorities included non-citizens. Though the Constitution proclaimed equality between men and women, women were greatly underrepresented in Parliament (they made up 8 per cent of its membership), and there were few women in senior positions in the public and private sectors, although the number was increasing.

The power to suspend the right to freedoms of thought and religion during states of emergency was incompatible with article 4 of the Covenant, the Committee said, and it was hoped steps could be taken to reverse this situation. There was a problem of torture by law-enforcement agencies, and the procedure to extend pre-trial detention from 72 hours to 10 days was not compatible with either the Ukrainian Constitution or the Covenant. There were limits on the functioning of 'non-traditional faiths', and that appeared to violate the Covenant. There appeared to be excessive Government control over the granting of licenses to the electronic media. Manifestations of anti-Semitism had to be eradicated, the Committee said, and bans on political participation by employees of State enterprises and educational institutions appeared to exceed Covenant standards.




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