FROM THE EDITORS

This report focuses on the human rights situation in Ukraine in 2012. It contains a “Civic Assessment of government policy in the area of human rights” and an in-depth analysis of specific aspects of the human rights situation during the period in question.

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) and the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) would like to gratefully acknowledge the enormous help offered us in creating this Human Rights Organizations Report. First and foremost we wish to thank:

The organizations which kindly provided material for this report:

The All-Ukrainian Charity Organization «All-Ukrainian Network of People Who Lived with HIV/AIDS»
The All-Ukrainian Charity Organization «Network of the NGOs worked in the penitentiary sphere»
The All-Ukrainian Public Organization «Committee of Voters of Ukraine»
The All-Ukrainian Network against Sexual Exploitation of Children
The Association of Ukrainian Monitors on Human Rights Observation in the Police Activities
The Center for Civil Liberties (Kyiv)
The Center for Law and Political Research «SiM» (Lviv)
The Center for Political and Legal Reform (Kyiv)
The Civil Network «Opora» [«Reliance»]
The Civic Advocacy Center (Lviv)
The Civic Organization «Donetsk Memorial»
The Civic Organization «Ekologia-Pravo-Lyudyna» (Lviv)
The Civic Organization «Helsinki Initiative-XXI» (Chortkiv, Ternopil region)
The Civic Organization «Social Action» (Kyiv)
The Civic Environmental and Humanitarian Association «Zeleny Svit» [«Green World»]
The Donetsk Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine
The Information Center «Maidan-Monitoring» (Kharkiv)
The Information Consultative Women Center (Kyiv)
The Institute of Legal Research and Strategies (Kharkiv)
The Institute of Mass Information (Kyiv)
The Institute of Religious Freedom (Kyiv)
The International Civil Organization «School of Equal Opportunities»
The International Organization EKPAT
The International Women’s Human Rights Center «La Strada – Ukraine»
The IPTS «VIS»
The Kharkiv Institute of Social Research
The Kherson Regional Charity and Health Foundation
The Kherson Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine
The National Association of Disability Persons (Kyiv)
The NGO «A-Vesta» (Vinnitsa)
The Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU)
The Representation of the Charity Organization «Hope and Homes for People»
The Telekrytyka (Kyiv)

The authors and co-authors of particular units, as well as the researchers of material used here:

Taras Antoshevsky; Larisa Bayda; Halyna Bakhmatova; Volodymyr Batchaev; Dementiy Belyy; Volodymyr Bocharov-Tuz; Natalia Bochkor; Tamara Bugaets; Oleksandr Bukalov; Andriy Chernousov; Vadim Chovgan; Andriy Dydenko; Olga Dunebabina; Maryana Evsiukova; Iryna Fedorovych; Yevhen Grygorenko; Olha Kalashnyk; Denis Kobzin; Ludmyla Kovalchuk; Natalia Kozarenko; Roman Kuybida; Maryna Legenka; Kateryna Levchenko; Oleh Levitskiy, Oleh Martynenko; Oleksandra Matviichuk; Valentina Mudrik; Aygul Mukanova; Oksana Nesterenko; Natalia Okhotnikova; Andriy Rakhansky; Vsevolod Rechytsky; Tetiana Ruda; Maksim Sereda; Oleksandr Severyn; Maksim Shcherbatyuk; Oleksandr Stepanenko; Elizaveta Stepaniuk; Olena Suslova; Mykhaylo Tarakhkalo; Gennadiy Tokarev; Ruslan Topolevsky; Maksim Vasin; Irina Yakovets; Volodymyr Yavorsky; Yana Zaikina; Natalka Zubar.

This report would not have been possible without the support and assistance of Volodymyr Derkachov, Irayida Fesenko, Les Herasymchuk, Oleh Myroshnychenko, Darya Rublinetsky, Alex Savransky, Oleh Shatokhin; Victor Stoliarenko, Vitaly Svyatsky, Marina Visotska and Boris Zakharov.

We would like also to express our gratitude to the National Endowment for Democracy (USA), who provided financial assistance for the preparation of this Report.

Arkadiy Bushchenko, Yevhen Zakharov