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TITLE: UKRAINE HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE: FEBRUARY 1995
UKRAINE
Ukraine in 1994 continued to be governed by the 1978
Constitution of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic,
modified by the introduction of a presidency and a multiparty
system. In presidential elections held in June and July,
Leonid Kuchma defeated incumbent Leonid Kravchuk and four other
candidates. The first post-Soviet elections for the 450-member
Rada (parliament), held in the spring, resulted in a much
fragmented legislature.
Since independence, a Rada commission has worked unsuccessfully
to draft a new constitution. In 1994 the President and the
Rada proposed forming a new constitutional commission, which
was finally established in October. In general, however, 1994,
like 1992 and 1993, was a year of governmental deadlock.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, and the Ministry of Defense all have equal status and
report to the President through the Cabinet. The chairmen of
these institutions sit on the Council of Ministers and
simultaneously chair the Council's executive committees
responsible for each of their ministries. The Rada must
confirm the appointment of each chairman. The armed forces
have remained largely outside of politics. President Kuchma
nominated, and the Rada confirmed on October 3, Ukraine's first
civilian Defense Minister. During parliamentary debates, the
SBU serves in a technical advisory capacity. Although it has
affected the political process through criminal investigations
against certain politicians and influential businessmen, human
rights organizations have not reported any violations of human
rights by the SBU.
The economy continues to be dependent on state-owned industry
and state and collectivized agriculture. Little privatization
has occurred. The Government has struggled to find a unique
"Ukrainian way" of transition from a command to a free market
economy. Consequently, economic reform has not been
extensively enacted, and the economy has suffered double-digit
declines in gross domestic product, periodic hyperinflation,
and high levels of hidden unemployment. Much economic activity
is submerged into the illegal sector (estimated at between 50
and 80 percent), causing a concomitant dramatic rise in crime.
The most significant human rights achievement was the ability
of the people of Ukraine, through internationally monitored
elections, to replace elected and appointed officials at all
levels of the executive and legislative branches in both the
central and local governments. President Kuchma and the
Chairman of the Rada acted to strengthen the separation of
church and state through public statements and through
adjustment of certain administrative procedures. The President
also disciplined the National Council for Broadcasting, which
engaged in partisan and illegal actions during the presidential
election campaign, and replaced the director of state
television, which in the past had been accused of restricting
public discussion of important issues. Continuing human rights
problems include restrictions on freedom of the press and
association, unreformed legal and prison systems, and ethnic
tensions in Crimea.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity
of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no known political killings by agents of the
Government, but the line between politically motivated killing
and criminal activities has become difficult to distinguish.
The Government's inability to stem the economic decline and
check the growth of violent, organized criminal activity had
major repercussions. Politicians increasingly became the
victims--whether through kidnapings or killings--of organized
criminal groups, aided sometimes, either actively or passively,
by corrupt officials. Politicians were particularly targeted
because of their influence over state-owned enterprises, which
still constituted 95 percent of official economic output.
In a particularly violent example of lawlessness, the entire
leadership of the Crimean Christian Liberal Party was singled
out for assassination because of the Party's platform on
economic reform. Six people, half of the leadership, were
murdered, with the remainder fleeing Ukraine. Its remaining
members disbanded the Party. Crimean authorities were
seemingly able neither to stop the killings nor apprehend the
perpetrators. President Kuchma's first act as President was to
sign a decree establishing special units and procedures to
combat organized crime. He also acted to raise the pay of law
enforcement officials to reduce the temptation of corruption.
b. Disappearance
Mikhaylo Boychyshyn, a prominent leader of the Popular Movement
of Ukraine (Rukh) disappeared in January without explanation.
No other disappearances are known to have occurred.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture. However, police and prison
beatings occur with regularity, and there is no effective
mechanism for registering complaints about mistreatment or for
obtaining redress. The Government made no known efforts during
the year to end the practice or to punish officials who
committed such abuses.
Visitors to prisons describe conditions as severely substandard.
Prisons are overcrowded, with the number of prisoners sometimes
four times the prison capacity. The most crowded tend to be
those for prisoners who have been charged with a crime and are
awaiting trial or are in investigative detention.
The psychiatric community has adopted more humane methods of
treatment. Human rights monitors say that, although the
quality of medical care in Ukraine is generally deteriorating,
psychiatry is making significant progress. There is some
official support for the adoption of less coercive and
degrading modes of treatment. Despite the resource constraints
imposed by the economic crisis, efforts to improve medical
training, hospital conditions, patients' rights, and legal
norms are under way.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
There were no reported cases of arbitrary arrest or detention
of persons. Ukraine has only slightly amended its Soviet-era
law on detentions, and the recent decree signed by President
Kuchma on combating organized crime and corruption contains a
number of controversial provisions.
Ukrainian law provides that police authorities may detain a
person suspected of a crime for 3 days without a warrant. A
prosecutor must issue an arrest order if the period of
detention exceeds 3 days. The maximum period of detention
after charges have been filed is 1 1/2 years. The law permits
citizens to appeal the legality of an arrest either to the
court or to the prosecutor. As citizens gain a better
understanding of their rights under a 1992 law, they are
increasingly filing appeals with the courts. The authorities
have dismissed some prosecutors for not adhering to legal
guidelines.
A presidential decree designed to combat corruption and
organized crime permits the "preventive" detention of persons
for up to 30 days without the filing of charges. The President
told law enforcement agencies on several occasions that they
should take no actions inconsistent with other laws and the
Constitution, regardless of the provisions of the decree. At
year's end, it remained to be seen whether the new decree would
result in arbitrary detention or other abuses.
By law, a judge must initiate a trial within 3 weeks from the
time charges are filed. But this limit is not always met by
the overloaded court system, where months may pass before a
defendant is finally brought to court. By law, detainees are
permitted access to a defense attorney, who is provided without
charge to the indigent, from the moment of detention or the
filing of charges, whichever comes first. There is no
attorney-client privilege. The prisoner may talk to a lawyer
only in the presence of the person who made the arrest. To
protect the defendant, each investigative file must contain a
document signed by the defendant and his counsel attesting that
the defendant's rights were explained to him in the presence of
an attorney. An appeals court may dismiss a conviction or
order a new trial if this document is missing. As defendants
became aware of their rights, they increasingly insisted on
observance of these rights. However, many still were not
aware, and hence did not take advantage, of these procedures.
Defense attorneys' fees also were prohibitively expensive for
many defendants.
Exile as a punishment no longer exists in Ukrainian law.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The criminal justice system follows the former Soviet model.
Several modifications have been made, including a December 1991
law modifying the system of prosecution and a June 1992 law,
not yet implemented, authorizing the creation of a
constitutional court. Without further major structural
reforms, however, the independence of the judiciary from
outside pressure cannot be realized.
The nonimplementation of the constitutional court law is
symptomatic of the gridlock which stymies judicial reform in
general. While the law was enacted, all but one of the
candidates selected by the Government for the constitutional
court refused appointments, and the court was not able to begin
work. As the number of contradictions between new laws and the
old Constitution increased, the need for a functioning
constitutional court became ever more urgent. The Supreme
Court has refrained from interpreting the laws and the
Constitution, leaving individuals, businesses, and even the
Government without a court of appeal in cases in which new laws
conflict with the Constitution.
The courts of general jurisdiction are undifferentiated as to
function (although separate arbitration, or commercial, courts
exist). In the same day, judges may hear criminal, civil, and
juvenile cases. The courts are organized on three levels:
rayon courts (district, also known as people's courts); oblast
(regional) courts; and the Supreme Court. All may act as the
court of first instance depending on the nature and seriousness
of the crime. A case heard in the first instance by the
Supreme Court, therefore, may not be appealed or reviewed.
There are no clear rules to determine which court first hears a
case. As a rule, military tribunals handle cases involving
military personnel only.
Prosecutors, like the courts, are organized into offices at the
rayon, oblast, and republic levels. They are ultimately
responsible to the Prosecutor General, appointed by the Rada.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys by law have equal status
before the courts. In practice, prosecutors still are very
influential because court proceedings are not conducted in an
adversarial manner. The prosecutor directs all investigations
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the SBU, or he may use
the investigative resources of his office.
While the defendant is presumed innocent and is tried before a
panel consisting of one judge and two lay assessors, conviction
rates have not changed from the Soviet era. Nearly 99 percent
of completed cases result in convictions. Judges frequently
send cases unlikely to end in convictions back to the
prosecutor for "additional investigation." Such cases may then
be dropped or closed, occasionally without informing the court
or the defendant. Consequently, conviction rates are a
somewhat misleading statistic. There are no known political
prisoners.
Oblast and Supreme Court judges may not be members of political
parties and must have at least 5 years of legal experience.
The Rada selects judges on the basis of recommendations from
the Ministry of Justice, based in part on examination results.
The Prosecutor General and his deputy are nominated by the
President and confirmed by the Rada. Regional and district
prosecutors are appointed by the Prosecutor General. Many
current judges and prosecutors were appointed in Soviet times
when political influence pervaded the criminal justice system.
It is unclear how free the judiciary is from influence and
intimidation by the executive branch of government.
Particularly at the regional level, judges, prosecutors, and
other court officials appear to remain closely attuned to local
government interests. Organized crime elements have also
influenced court decisions.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Search warrants issued by prosecutors, not judges, are required
and utilized in most cases. The SBU may, however, conduct
intrusive surveillance and searches without a warrant on
national security grounds. Human rights observers report
receiving no complaints of invasion of privacy by the SBU.
According to the SBU charter, persons subject to surveillance
must be informed after a month's time. The Prosecutor General's
office has oversight responsibility over the SBU, but the
extent to which it utilizes that authority to monitor SBU
activities and to curb excesses by security officials is
unknown.
The remnants of Soviet control mechanisms survive in many
guises. The militia stops vehicles arbitrarily in cities, at
the borders of cities and towns, and throughout the
countryside. It needs no probable cause to stop vehicles for
an extensive document check and inspection of all parts of the
vehicle and its contents. This has become a great source of
and inducement to corruption in the militia: citizens who
often have committed no violation, or only a minor one, prefer
to pay a bribe to avoid time-consuming inspections. Westerners
and Western vehicles are popular targets of this treatment.
Persons who have committed serious violations also escape
justice by paying bribes to officials, further undermining the
concept of the rule of law.
Section 2 Respect for Civil
Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
A 1991 law protects freedom of speech and the print media.
Criticism of the Government is tolerated. Because most of the
media are state owned and supported, there is a general
tendency to self-censorship. Former President Kravchuk
declared that newsprint was a strategic commodity and that
there would be no privatization of the sources of paper.
Government control of subsidies, most printing presses,
newsprint, and a galaxy of "official" media continued to
inhibit the growth of a fully free, competitive, and open
press. More recently, President Kuchma signed a law exempting
government-owned media from paying high value-added taxes,
thereby making the private press comparatively more expensive.
A 1994 law (predating President Kuchma's election) regulates
the electronic media. Holos Ukrainy, the official newspaper of
the Ukrainian Parliament, accused the state television of
promoting the reelection of President Kravchuk (see Section 3)
and of restricting discussion of controversial domestic topics,
such as disputes among the rival Orthodox churches claiming
jurisdiction over the country (see Section 2.c.). Several
private television channels rebroadcast uncensored foreign news
programs and create their own programming. Foreign broadcasts
(mostly Russian) are received without interference.
After his election, President Kuchma disbanded the Council on
Broadcast Media, a regulatory agency, on the grounds that his
predecessor had improperly appointed the Council. In addition,
after a private television station, Hravis, broadcast campaign
information about Kuchma and the other candidates in the
presidential race, the Council had shut it down for being
improperly licensed. Upon his election, Kuchma reinstated
Hravis' license and appointed its executive director to the
post of deputy director of the State Broadcasting Company. The
President's adviser on press freedoms stated that Kuchma will
reestablish the Council as a nonpartisan body solely involved
in the technical aspects of broadcast regulation.
During former President Kravchuk's tenure, the Government
created a committee with broadly defined powers over all media
(i.e., print, broadcasting, and publishing) to protect "state
secrets." These were broadly defined to include economic and
numerous other categories of information with the apparent
purpose of suppressing embarrassing information about the
Government's performance. The law establishing the committee
provided not only for censorship of the media but also
penalties for anyone who published such information. President
Kuchma dissolved the committee before it was able to exercise
its powers.
The most serious threat to a free and open discussion of issues
came from criminal elements and organized crime. Some
journalists and editors reported they feared reprisals from
criminal elements if they exposed how organized crime came to
control much of the economy, both private and state owned.
However, as the year passed, the print media became more daring
and courageous in discussing this subject.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Law on Public Assembly of 1989 stipulates that
organizations must apply for permission to the respective local
administration 10 days before a planned demonstration.
Participants in demonstrations are prohibited by law from
instigating violence or ethnic conflict and from calling for
the violent overthrow of the constitutional order.
Demonstrations may not interfere with traffic, take place near
the Rada when it is in session, or otherwise hinder public
order. In Kiev, officials routinely granted permits.
Unlicensed demonstrations were common and occurred without
police interference, even at the Rada when it was in session.
The 1992 law on public organizations prohibits the State from
financing political parties and other public organizations.
According to the law, political parties may not receive funds
from abroad or maintain accounts in foreign banks. The law
prohibits organizations advocating the violent overthrow of the
Government and constitutional order or undermining Ukraine's
state security by collaborating with other states. It bars
political parties from having administrative or organizational
structures abroad. The law prohibits police authorities,
members of the armed forces, and executive branch officials
from joining political parties, but many such persons
nonetheless publicly associate themselves with specific parties.
Political parties may be dissolved only by a court decision.
The Supreme Court may dissolve a party for advocating the
overthrow of the State, for "anti-Ukrainian" activities, or for
violating or advocating the violation of the constitutional
rights of citizens. Because no party has been dissolved since
independence, the legal criteria have not yet been established.
Immediately after the coup attempts of 1991, the Government
banned the Communist Party of Ukraine, which was an affiliate
of the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Many
former members of the Communist Party thereafter participated
in establishing the Socialist Party of Ukraine. In December
1993, the Government registered the Communist Party of Ukraine
as a new party, and not as a successor party to the CPSU.
Hence, former CPSU assets were not given to the new Socialist
Party, although it continued to press the Rada for recognition
as the legal successor of the CPSU.
Freedom of association is circumscribed by an onerous
registration requirement that lends itself to abuse and
bureaucratic manipulation. Groups must be registered with the
Government to pursue almost any purpose, whether commercial or
philanthropic. The Ministries of Justice, Economy, Foreign
Economic Relations, and the Councils on Religion and
Broadcasting, among others, all have registration functions
which they have used at one time or another to prevent citizens
from exercising their right of free association for purposes of
which the Government does not approve.
Not being registered has several important disadvantages, i.e.,
unregistered groups are prohibited from having bank accounts,
acquiring property, or entering into contracts. On the other
hand, the registration law gives the Government an unlimited
right to inspect the activities of all registered groups.
According to this law, a registered group must (1) keep the
Government apprised of all its activities, including
notification of any meetings; (2) make its meetings open to all
persons at all times, regardless of whether or not they are
members; and (3) upon request, present its registration
documents to any government official, including the prosecutor's
office, and be ready to prove that it is in compliance with the
purposes of the group as set out in its registration documents.
A change in a group's purposes necessitates reregistration. A
registered group may not duplicate any function or service that
the Government already provides. For instance, human rights
lawyers who wish to represent prisoners are prohibited from
establishing an association to do so, according to the Ministry
of Justice, because the Government already provides lawyers for
the accused.
Provisions of the law on registration, through bureaucratic and
political maneuvering, were used to vitiate sections of the
1993 election law which governed the recent Rada elections.
The election law expressly called for the establishment of an
association of nonpartisan voters to supply nonpartisan
information to the voters on the democratic process, the
candidates, and the parties. Despite such specific provisions,
the Central Election Commission, which is responsible for
administering the election law, refused to register the
committee and referred the group to the Ministry of Justice for
registry as a civic organization. It was reported that, when
consulted by the Ministry of Justice, the Central Election
Commission recommended that the Ministry not register the
group. The Ministry of Justice, based in part on that
recommendation, refused to register the committee, citing as
one reason that it would be against the law for any group of
private citizens to arrange for informational meetings between
candidates and the voters. Without registration, the committee
was effectively excluded from carrying out the functions
explicitly provided for by Ukrainian law.
In addition, the registration law has been used to prevent the
issuance of visas to foreign missionaries (see Section 2.c.).
Some human rights groups, despite having requested and been
denied registration, nevertheless operate, but always with the
risk of being prosecuted. The Odesa prosecutor warned a human
rights group that was refused registration in Odesa that all
members of the group would be arrested if they continued to
operate.
c. Freedom of Religion
There is no official state religion. The 1991 law on freedom
of conscience and religion provides for the separation of church
and state and permits religious organizations to establish
places of worship and train clergy. Religious organizations
are required to register with local authorities and with the
Government's Council for Religious Affairs, a process that
generally lasts about 1 month. The State has not interfered
with the registration of minority religions requested by
Ukrainian citizens. The State has on occasion intervened in
disputes over church property among the three rival Orthodox
churches which claim jurisdiction over Orthodox Christians in
Ukraine. Church disputes practically dropped to nil in 1994,
and the Government took an even-handed approach in these cases.
Obstacles to complete religious freedom still exist at the
local level where the bureaucracy in some places has delayed
registration of religious organizations. However, a religious
organization may not be denied registration. Any group
representing itself as a church may apply for registration.
An amendment of the 1991 law, passed by the Rada on December
23, 1993, has been used to restrict the activities of nonnative
religious organizations. It requires that "clergymen,
religious preachers, teachers, other representatives of foreign
organizations who are foreign citizens and come to visit
temporarily in Ukraine may preach religious doctrines,
administer religious ordinances, or practice other canonical
activities only in those religious organizations which invited
them to Ukraine and with official approval of the governmental
body that registered the statutes and the articles of the
pertinent religious organization."
Citing a desire to preserve Ukrainian culture, some government
officials have argued that restrictions on the activities of
nonnative religious organizations are appropriate. The Kiev
city administration has not responded thus far to applications
by non-Ukrainian Mormon missionaries and others for visas.
Some local authorities refused to respond officially to the
requests but stated in private that they will not grant visas
because of the opposition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
When the Mormon church continued to press its case for visas,
some members of the Council on Religious Affairs threatened to
deregister the Mormon church if it did not cease its efforts.
As one of his first presidential acts, President Kuchma
disbanded this Council and directed that a new committee be
formed under the supervision of the Minister for Nationalities,
Migration, and Religious Denominations. At year's end, it was
not yet clear whether this would affect government restrictions
on foreign religious workers.
Jews, the second-largest minority in the country, have expanded
opportunities to pursue their religious and cultural activities,
but anti-Semitic incidents continue to occur. The national
Government has protected the rights of the Jewish community and
speaks out against anti-Semitism. However, nongovernmental
manifestations of anti-Semitism continue, exemplified by the
growth of an ultranationalist extremist group in western
Ukraine having anti-Semitism as a tenet. The group applied
for, but was refused, registration as a political party at the
national level. The city of L'viv did permit the group to
register, and it may now operate there openly. Anti-Semitic
articles continue to appear in some local newspapers,
especially in western Ukraine and Kharkiv, and there have been
reports of new anti-Semitic periodicals. Jewish cemeteries
have been desecrated. In L'viv, the Jewish community asked to
erect a monument at what is said to be the only former German
concentration camp in Europe without a memorial. L'viv
officials refused permission.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Freedom of movement within the country is not restricted by
law, but the requirements to register at the workplace and
place of residence determine eligibility for social benefits.
People who move to other regions for work in the private
economy, for instance, may not be eligible for registration and
therefore may not be able to use medical facilities unless they
pay very high fees in hard currency.
Ukraine assures the right of return for all those it considers
its citizens. Persons born in Ukraine and living in Ukraine at
the time of independence are considered citizens. The right of
return is available to people born in Ukraine who left the
country prior to independence and did not assume another
citizenship. Dual citizenship is not recognized.
Before the precipitous decline in its finances in 1994, the
Government had an extensive assistance program for the
resettlement of returnees. It provided resources for the
return not only of Ukrainians living in Russia and elsewhere
but also the Tatars to Crimea and the Volga Germans to southern
Ukraine. By 1994, 250,000 Tatars had returned to Crimea. In
1994 the Government was no longer able to provide assistance,
but it did not put any impediments in the way of the Tatars'
continuing return.
Section 3 Respect for Political
Rights: The Right of
Citizens to Change Their
Government
Citizens exercised this right in 1994 elections which resulted
in the peaceful democratic transfer of power from an incumbent
president running for reelection. Elections to the 450-member
Rada (parliament) were also held in 1994, and both elections
were judged to have been generally free and fair.
Parliamentary elections, which began on March 27, resulted in a
fragmented legislature. While Communists are the largest
party, the largest voting bloc is an emerging group of
parliamentary factions in the center which support democratic
and economic reform.
In the presidential election's first round on June 26 among six
candidates, Leonid Kuchma, former Prime Minister and candidate
of the centrist Inter-Regional Reform Bloc, obtained about 31
percent of the vote to some 38 percent for Leonid Kravchuk
running for reelection. Kuchma won the run-off on July 10 with
52 percent of the vote. All citizens above the age of 18 had
the right to vote regardless of nationality, religion, or sex,
and the election turnout ranged from around 70 percent for the
presidential election to about 75 percent for the legislative
ones.
Women are well represented in politics and government,
especially at the levels of local and oblast governments.
However, they are less well represented at the higher levels of
government. There are only 12 women in Parliament and very few
women in the highest levels of government.
The President, elected for a 4-year term, nominates the Prime
Minister and members of the Cabinet, some of whom must be
confirmed by Parliament. Day-to-day government operations are
the responsibility of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of
ministers.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude
Regarding International and
Nongovernmental
Investigation of Alleged
Violations of Human Rights
The Government allowed local and international human rights
groups to operate freely. The Union of Councils for Soviet
Jewry, for example, has an active office in Kiev, staffed with
local human rights monitors.
The Government also welcomed visits by foreign human rights
organizations. Numerous international groups were invited to
observe the elections.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on
Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or
Social Status
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
sex, and other grounds.
Women
Unemployment, lack of medical care, the degree of availability
of child care, and social mobility, most of which have come to
the fore or been exacerbated by the economic crisis, are the
primary concerns of women and women's groups in Ukraine. Labor
law provides for equal rights for men and women. However, it
is estimated that women represent 90 percent of all new
unemployment and are much more likely to be laid off than men.
Equal pay for equal work is the law and generally appears to be
the practice as well. However, women are seldom seen in
high-level managerial positions. Educational opportunities for
women are improving, and more women are entering the upper
echelons of the legal, medical, and journalism professions.
Women's groups now are taking advantage of the developing
private economy to make a place for women and address their
economic concerns. In part because of their high unemployment,
women appear to be seizing the initiative in the development of
businesses large and small in the emerging private market
economy.
Women's groups do not cite violence as a primary issue for
women. Reports of violence against women are few and usually
connected with the high incidence of alcoholism among men and
women. There is a lack of awareness of spouse abuse and other
violence against women as a women's rights issue.
Separate statistics on prosecutions for wife beating or on
average sentences are not available. When violence occurs,
government officials have acknowledged the authorities often
exert pressure on women to drop charges against their husbands
to preserve the family. The low official incidence of crimes
against women is mirrored by the lack of media attention to the
subject and the low priority that women's groups place on the
issue.
Children
The Government is publicly committed to the defense of
children's rights. Because of the deepening economic crisis,
however, it has taken few specific steps to further a
children's rights agenda. There is no pattern of familial or
societal abuse of children.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
In spite of vigorous press debate between Ukrainian
ultranationalists and apprehensive Russian speakers, there are
only isolated cases of ethnic discrimination in Ukraine. In
one case, Russian speakers in L'viv have complained that there
is insufficient instruction in the schools in Russian. The
1991 law on national minorities played an instrumental role in
preventing ethnic strife by allowing individual citizens to use
their respective national languages in conducting personal
business and by allowing minority groups to establish their own
schools.
There is no evidence of serious ethnic tension, with the
exception of two areas. In some parts of western Ukraine, the
small Russian minority and Jewish groups credibly accuse local
Ukrainian ultranationalists of fostering ethnic hatred and
printing anti-Semitic tracts. In Crimea, the Ukrainian and
Tatar minorities credibly complain of discrimination by the
Russian majority. The Crimean government withdrew financial
support for the only Ukrainian-language newspaper in Simferopol
and has resisted Tatar requests for support for Tatar-language
schools and cultural facilities.
Russian speakers, who predominate in eastern Ukraine,
complained about the increased use of Ukrainian in schools and
in the media. They claimed that their children are
disadvantaged when taking academic entrance examinations since
all applicants are required to take a Ukrainian-language test.
President Kuchma, himself a Russian speaker, took much of the
venom out of the language issue by consistently speaking
Ukrainian in public and by pledging during his election
campaign to request the Rada to give official status to the
Russian language.
Contrary to the situation in 1993, there were no known
instances of anti-Roma violence in 1994.
People with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination based on disability, but,
especially with the economic crisis, the Government has no
programs targeted at increasing opportunities for the
disabled. The law requires public facilities for the disabled,
but implementation is poor.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Soviet law, or pertinent parts of the Constitution, continue to
regulate the activities of trade unions. The 1992 law on
citizens' organizations (which includes trade unions)
stipulates noninterference by public authorities in the
activities of these organizations, which have the right to
establish and join federations and to affiliate with
international organizations on a voluntary basis. The Rada is
debating a new constitution and a new law on trade unions. In
principle, all workers and civil servants (including members of
the armed forces) are free to form unions. In practice, the
Government discourages certain categories of workers (e.g.,
nuclear power plant employees) from doing so.
An officially sanctioned successor to the former Soviet trade
unions, known as the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), has
begun to work independently of the Government and has been
vocal in opposing draft legislation that would restrict the
right to strike. The FTU is considered a partner with
management in the running of state enterprises. The Government
provides this organization with office buildings and resort
properties. The FTU has no official or legal relationship with
any political party.
Many independent unions now provide an alternative to the
official unions in most sectors of the economy. Some, such as
the Independent Miners' Union of Ukraine (NPGU), and unions
representing pilots, civil air dispatchers, locomotive
engineers, and aviation ground crews formed the Consultative
Council of Free Trade Unions in 1992. This entity acts
independently of the FTU.
The law on labor conflict resolution guarantees the right to
strike to all but members of the armed forces, civil and
security services, and employees of "continuing process plants"
(e.g., metallurgical factories). The law prohibits strikes
that "may infringe on the basic needs of the population" (e.g.,
rail and air transportation). Strikes based on political
demands are also illegal, but this did not prevent miners and
transportation workers from making political as well as
economic demands during their September 1993 strikes that
forced the Government to hold elections at every level of
government in 1994. The Government has relied on the courts to
deal with strikes that it considers illegal, and the courts
have not always ruled in favor of the Government.
There are no official restrictions on the right of unions to
affiliate with international trade union bodies; the NPGU is a
member of the International Miners' Union.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law on enterprises states that joint worker-management
commissions should resolve issues concerning wages, working
conditions, and the rights and duties of management at the
enterprise level, a system that is not clearly defined.
Overlapping spheres of responsibility frequently impede the
collective bargaining process. The Government, in agreement
with trade unions, establishes wages in each industrial sector
and invites all unions to participate in the negotiations. The
law on labor conflict resolution set up another bureaucracy,
the National Mediation and Reconciliation Service, to mitigate
labor-management disputes that cannot be resolved at the
enterprise level. The President appoints the head of this
service.
Collective bargaining law prejudices the bargaining process
against the independent trade unions and favors the official
unions. It provides for dues to be taken from the pay of every
worker in a collective and paid to the official union. The
union, on behalf of the enterprise, administers the social
welfare benefits (including huge pension benefit funds) of
workers paid by an enterprise.
Most workers are never informed that they are not obligated to
join the official union, and joining an independent union can
be bureaucratically onerous as well. Independent unions are
not given resources to administer social welfare benefits.
Enterprise directors discourage departures from the official
union by meeting with workers to discuss the benefits of
official union membership.
The collective bargaining law prohibits antiunion
discrimination. The courts resolve disputes under the law.
There have been cases in which such disputes have not been
resolved in a fair and equitable manner.
There are no export processing zones in Ukraine.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Constitution prohibits compulsory labor, and it is not
known to exist.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum employment age is 17. In certain nonhazardous
industries, however, enterprises may negotiate with the
Government to hire employees between 15 and 17 years of age.
Education is compulsory up to age 15. The Ministry of
Education vigorously enforces the law on education.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
In 1992 the Government established a countrywide minimum wage.
Monthly inflation rose dramatically all during 1993 and 1994.
This hyperinflation has seriously eroded incomes, and
officially over half the population of Ukraine now lives below
the poverty level, with further declines expected. In
addition, the Government has paid most salaries several months
late, further reducing income. In theory, the law on wages,
pensions, and social security provides for mechanisms to index
the minimum wage to inflation. As of December 1, the minimum
wage was approximately $6.50, or nearly 1 million karbovanets
per month.
The Labor Code provides for a maximum 41-hour workweek, a
24-hour day of rest per week, and at least 15 days of paid
vacation per year. Stagnation in some industries (e.g.,
defense) significantly reduced the workweek for some categories
of workers.
The Constitution and other laws contain occupational safety and
health standards, but these are frequently ignored in
practice. Lax safety standards enforcement was the principal
cause of many serious mine accidents resulting in over 100
deaths and more injuries in 1993. In theory, workers have the
legal right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations
without jeopardizing continued employment. In reality however,
labor experts say that continued employment would be in
question. The Labor Ministry is currently rewriting the mine
safety law, and the NPGU is demanding that the Government
improve worker safety in the mines.
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[end of document]
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