Among the numerous calls to veto dangerous laws ignored by President Yanukovych, the Law on National Referendums signed into force on Tuesday may seem innocuous enough. What, after all, could be more democratic than referendums? Democratic or manipulative

11 Ukrainian media organizations have issued a petition in which they list 29 cases where those who used violence against media representatives remained unpunished despite calls to the law enforcement bodies to intervene.

A number of prominent human rights organizations, concerned by increasing encroachments on freedom of peaceful assembly have formed a partnership and call on others to join efforts in upholding this fundamental right

On the eve of the eightieth anniversary of Holodomor 1932-33, a public survey has found that 59% of Ukrainians believe that Holodomor was genocide. The number denying this has fallen by a third

Yevhen Zakharov, KHPG Co-Chair, is generally positive about the new Criminal Procedure Code in force since 20 November, though all depends on how it is implemented

The law, which a number of human rights groups plan to defy and to challenge at the European Court of Human Rights forces NGOs receiving foreign grants to register themselves as “foreign agents”

The new Law on National Referendum is seen by many constitutional experts as providing a dangerously easy – and unconstitutional – way of changing the country’s main law

The bill imposes assets freezes and visa bans on those respon¬si¬ble for the deten¬tion, abuse or death of the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. MEPs suggest that visa restrictions could be applied to representatives of the Ukrainian authorities

In Kamyana-Buzka (Lviv oblast) traffic police officers unlawfully detained and beat Nazar Oleksevych, journalist from the newspaper Krai and member of the NGO Democratic Alliance and his father, Roman

From 30 July to 31 October there were 185 infringements of journalists’ rights, with 115 of these directly linked with the parliamentary elections and / or with those infringing their rights being candidates or MPs.

Human rights workers and doctors believe that attempts to control the illicit drug trade are hitting the wrong people, namely people suffering from terminal illnesses who are deprived of urgently needed painkillers.

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union is concerned over the encroachment on freedom of speech at the website of the UNIAN information agency

The High Administrative Court has finally stated clearly that the notorious Soviet Decree which is regularly used to restrict peaceful assembly breaches Ukraine’s Constitution by using a permission-based procedure and demanding 10 days warning

The law on amendments to the Law on the Human Rights Ombudsperson regarding a national preventive mechanism came into force on 4 November.

OPORA reports that the situation at District Election Commission [DEC] No. 194 in Cherkasy remains unresolved despite the fact that by 3 November two protocols had been signed and stamped, and the results officially announced

Leonid Razvozzhaev was abducted while applying for asylum and could now face a long prison sentence on questionable charges in Russia yet the Ukrainian authorities are continuing to deny all knowledge and any responsibility for this grave breach of international law

A new law would enable police to receive access to considerable amounts of information about all mobile telephone owners, with the procedure for this, in breach of the Constitution, being stipulated by the Cabinet of Ministers, not by law

Six editors from the UNIAN website have addressed an open letter to the UNIAN General Director in which they give examples of censorship, taboo subjects and also concealed advertising on behalf of the leader of the Communist Party and one other parliamentary candidate.

The Institute for Mass Information reports that on Election Day there were 16 reported cases where journalists were obstructed when carrying out their work. There was also one attack on a journalist and a case involving indirect pressure

It says that the parliamentary campaign was marked by competition in the election process being artificially restricted and by flagrant violations of the principle of equal opportunity for political parties and candidates