#UkrainianDemocracyUkraine Has ‘Significant’ Human Rights Abuse Issues, State Department Reports
"...There were also significant human rights abuses involving Ukrainian government officials...."These “included credible reports of: enforced disappearance; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; restrictions on freedom of expression, including for members of the media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship.”
The State Department also cited Ukraine for “serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association; restrictions on freedom of movement; serious government corruption; extensive gender-based violence; systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association; and the existence of the worst forms of child labor.”
"... the State Department report on human rights in Ukraine for 2021—the year before Russia’s invasion—also cited Ukraine for human rights abuses...."
“Significant human rights issues,” said that report, “included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings by the government or its agents; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees by law enforcement personnel; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention” and “serious problems with the independence of the judiciary.”
“The government,” said that 2021 report, “generally failed to take adequate steps to prosecute or punish most officials who committed abuses, resulting in a climate of impunity.”
The 2023 report on human rights in Ukraine made virtually the same assertion: “The government often did not take adequate steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed abuses.”
“Civil society and media noted corruption remained common at all levels in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, influencing judicial and law enforcement institutions, the management of state property and state companies, and state regulation,” said the State Department.
