On the occasion of the Human Rights Day

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Press release by the Maidan of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the Human Rights Day

(Human Rights Day is observed every year on December 10. It commemorates the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)

The Maidan of Foreign Affairs Foundation monitors the domestic political situation and its prospective impact on the international image of Ukraine.

We believe that the latter is particularly important right now, when our European partners determine the future of sanctions against Russia and the course of Ukraine's integration into the EU.

It is no secret that the lack of reforms and tangible results in the fight against corruption causes grave concern both in Ukraine and abroad. That it is especially true of the absence of the judiciary reform, and especially, of radical changes in the work of the prosecution system that have already received huge international resonance.

All of us are witnesses to the government’s glaring inability and unwillingness to investigate the mass-murder in Instytutska and other crimes of the infamous Bekrut against demonstrators in November 2013 and February 2014, the circumstances of the shameful surrender of Crimea, the funding of separatists, killings and torture of pro-Ukrainian activists in the East in 2014, embezzlement from the budget by the Yanukovych’s "family," the downing of the Ukrainian military cargo aircraft "IL-76" by the terrorists in June last year, the hideous circumstances of the Ilovaisk massacre and numerous terrorist attacks committed in our country in 2015.

It seems there is no sector left in Ukraine that would be free of corruption and abuse. The notorious scandal that accompanied the creation of the Special Operations Forces shocked our partners in NATO and the US and discredited Ukraine’s top military leadership in the eyes of the Western allies.

All that takes place while the opposition journalists and volunteer organizations known for their charitable aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, are being harassed or even persecuted. Ultimately, those examples of selective justice by the government strengthen the suspicion among Ukrainians that the Kremlin hand is behind them.

The situation causes great concern of the general society, human rights defenders and lawyers and international organizations that protect the rights of citizens who are often detained and interrogated without proper legal grounds.

In particular, recently, the legal defense of Gennady Korban provided the Maidan of Foreign Affairs with the detailed legal information on the circumstances of his resonance detention. It’s important to note that these numerous violations of the Ukrainian and international legislation were made in regard to a public figure – a nation-wide known volunteer and Chairman of the Ukrainian Union of Patriots (UKROP") party who has a critical position towards the government. So, in this case, we are clearly talking about the obvious signs of politically-motivated persecution.

Taking into account the serious implications of that case and the alarming trend, the Maidan of Foreign Affairs considers it to be our duty to share the following with the general public.

Experts
Andrii Klymenko

Andrii Klymenko

Chair of the Supervisory Board of the MFA, ​Crimea studies expert, ​Editor-in-chief of the http://www.blackseanews.net/ Publications
Bohdan Yaremenko

Bohdan Yaremenko

MFA founder, foreign policy and security expert Publications
Oleh Belokolos

Oleh Belokolos

Chairman of the Board, foreign policy and security expert Publications
Alexander Khara

Alexander Khara

Foreign policy and security expert, ​Deputy Chair of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies Publications
Oleksii Kuropiatnyk

Oleksii Kuropiatnyk

Foreign policy and security expert Publications
Olga Korbut

Olga Korbut

Temporarily occupied territories studies ​analyst​ Publications
Tatyana Guchakova

Tatyana Guchakova

Temporarily occupied territories studies expert Publications
Yurii Smelyanski

Yurii Smelyanski

Economics and temporarily occupied territories studies expert, Chair of the Executive Board of the ​Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies Publications