In 10 Ukrainian cities on 5 February, civic organizations will be discussing a plan for future practical actions aimed at improving the work of the office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson and bringing this into line with Ukraine’s Constitution, laws and international commitments. The campaign “Zakharov as Human Rights Ombudsperson” has shown the ability of civic and human rights organizations to join efforts in ensuring the full development of civic society in Ukraine.

As a result of the political battle after the parliamentary elections of 2006, signs have become more noticeable of a return to repressive tactics in the attitude to the mass media.

Those who saw fit to respond with cries of “interference” to the PACE co-rapporteurs’ reminder that a Human Rights Ombudsperson must be politically impartial show that they have learned nothing. The author asks the co-rapporteurs to accept his as ever penetrating explanation as an apology for such tactlessness

The “Article 19” project sets out to discover from local journalists how easy it is for them to work with environmental topics and information in Lviv and what problems they encounter when gathering environmental information

The “Article 19” project sets out to discover from local journalists how easy it is for them to work with environmental topics and information in Lviv and what problems they encounter when gathering environmental information

The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs reports that thanks to their formal request to the Turkish police, 20 Ukrainian women, some of whom they believe to be victims of human traffickers, have been freed.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs reports that thanks to their formal request to the Turkish police, 20 Ukrainian women, some of whom they believe to be victims of human traffickers, have been freed.

While the Lviv authorities have begun organizing public hearings themselves (joining them seen as being less dangerous than figting them!), they seem less interested in taking heed of what the public is telling them

Three years after Olha Belyak died through lack of medical care, and her parents were then treated with hideously insensitive callousness, the Shevchenkivsky District Court in Kyiv ordered the remand centre to pay compensation

This is the verdict given in the 2006 Reporters without Borders report: “The greater press freedom achieved in 2005 was reduced by physical attacks on journalists and failure to complete the trial of the killers of journalist Georgy Gongadze”

No response thus far, however, to the co-rapporteurs’ indignation that "the ruling coalition parties presented the candidature of the same person that had discredited the independence of the Ombudsman’s office in Ukraine for months". And a proper response is both needed and demanded by Ukraine’s civic society

At a recent press conference the Odessa Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine reported on the conclusions from a busy six months in which they monitored the human rights situation and provided free consultations to members of the public

The seminar focused on judgments of the Court concerning Articles 3 and 5 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights in Ukrainian court practice

The author alleges that the Mayor prevented him from discussing issues of public importance during Council sessions

The Belarusian authorities have extended the Committee’s lease which means that it no longer faces closure. The Committee’s Chair believes that support from the EU and USA was instrumental in this change of heart by the authorities

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Monitoring Committee Rapporteurs, Hanne Severinsen and Renate Wohlwend, have suggested in their report that the Ukrainian authorities are unable to guarantee the supremacy of law and transparency of administration at all levels

The UN Special Rapporteur believes that Ukraine urgently needs to to limit the quantity of toxic and dangerous products and wastes present on the territory of Ukraine and to take “all the necessary measures to put an end to any further import”

Our 6,800 applications are only outdone by Russians, Turks and Romanians. The real deluge of compensation payments has not begun since Moscow, peeved by some negative judgments issued by the Court, is now blocking attempts to speed up procedure.

Gongadze’s mother, Lesya Gongadze, said today that the President’s failure to keep the promises given to the European Parliament in 2005 showed one thing only. “I think that he simply can’t do it.The Prosecutor General has passed the case to a new investigator, Mr Kharchenko who has to start from the beginning ..."

Gongadze’s mother, Lesya Gongadze, said today that the President’s failure to keep the promises given to the European Parliament in 2005 showed one thing only. “I think that he simply can’t do it.The Prosecutor General has passed the case to a new investigator, Mr Kharchenko who has to start from the beginning ..."