Consideration of reports, comments and information submitted by States parties under article 9 of the Convention
Eleventh and twelfth periodic reports of Ukraine
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS, COMMENTS AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION (agenda item 4)
Eleventh and twelfth periodic reports of Ukraine (CERD/C/197/Add.5 and CERD/C/226/Add.3)
1. The CHAIRMAN said that the Committee had before it the eleventh periodic report of Ukraine (CERD/C/197/Add.5) and the twelfth periodic report of that country (CERD/C/226/Add.3).
2. At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr. Burchak and Mr. Reva (Ukraine) took places at the Committee table.
3. Mr. BURCHAK (Ukraine) expressed his country's support for the Committee's work and said that he wished to provide information on the legislation adopted in Ukraine during the seven months which had elapsed since its last report.
4. Since proclaiming its independence, one of the main tasks to which Ukraine had devoted itself had been to develop a legal system in conformity with international standards guaranteeing individual rights and freedoms. The Ukrainian Parliament had thus declared that all laws adopted by the State to which Ukraine was the successor would remain in force as long as they were not in contradiction with the new leglislation. In addition, all obligations entered into by Ukraine after ratification by the Parliament became an inalienable part of the State's domestic law. All the international commitments inherited from the former Soviet Union were also part of domestic law.
5. In respect of the new laws on the implementation of article 2 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Act on the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression in Ukraine (CERD/C/226/Add.3, part II) had been supplemented by provisions which increased the amount of compensation paid to victims and broadened the scope of the Act's application to persons living in Ukraine who had been subjected to political repression outside the limits of the territory of Ukraine.
6. Since the date of Ukraine's last report, 122 acts and 336 decrees or legislative texts concerning the Convention had been adopted.
7. Article 5 of the Act relating to the security services, the successors, as it were, to the KGB in the former Soviet Union, provided that the activities of those services had to be carried out with due respect for individual rights and freedoms; that the bodies and staff connected with those services were bound to respect human dignity; that any disclosure of information on the private lives of citizens was prohibited; and that any restriction on individual rights and freedoms was intolerable and would incur the offender's criminal responsibility.
8. In addition, article 3 of the Act of 23 April 1991 on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations (CERD/C/226/Add.3, part II) guaranteed that every Ukrainian citizen had the right to freedom of conscience. Article 4 provided that Ukraine's citizens were equal before the law and possessed equal rights in all spheres of economic, political, social and cultural life regardless of their attitude towards religion.
9. Article 4 of the Act on Citizen's Associations prohibited any organization in Ukraine whose purpose was propaganda for war, violence, cruelty, fascism or neofascism; any organization whose purpose was to incite religious or national hatred; and any organization whose purpose was to restrict or limit generally recognized human rights. Under article 7 of that Act, refusing to grant membership of, or excluding anyone from, an organization on the grounds of nationality was prohibited.
10. There were currently 21 political parties in Ukraine. When they were registered, their policy was carefully scrutinized.
11. In June 1992, Ukraine had adopted the Act on National Minorities in Ukraine, article 1 of which provided that Ukraine guaranteed citizens of the Republic, regardless of their national origin, equality of political, social, economic and cultural rights and freedoms. The drafting of the Act had given rise to problems because it was the national practice of many citizens from the republics of the former Soviet Union to have a first name, but not a surname. The Act on National Minorities therefore included a provision according to which the passports of citizens belonging to that category showed only the first name of the persons concerned.
12. The Act of 26 June 1992 on emergency situations applied only where a disturbance of public order threatened the life and health of citizens and any restrictions on rights and freedoms had to be clearly spelled out in the legislation.
13. On 26 November 1992, Ukraine had also adopted the Media Act, article 3 of which prohibited the dissemination of slander or libel through the media. That same article prohibited any publications whose purpose was to incite national or racial hatred. Any organization which violated that provision was liable to criminal prosecution.
14. The Employment Act, completed in October 1992, stipulated that any discrimination in hiring on the basis of nationality, religion or other factors was inadmissible.
15. Under the Act on alternative forms of service (CERD/C/226/Add.3, part II), persons whose religious convictions were incompatible with military service were given the option of serving their country in a different way.
16. The Act on Citizenship of Ukraine (CERD/C/226/Add.3, part II) gave persons who had been born in Ukraine, but who had emigrated, for whatever reason, the possibility of reclaiming their Ukrainian nationality or of obtaining it through a simplified procedure. The Act had been amended in January 1993 by an extension of the time limits.
17. Through judicial reform, a constitutional court had been set up to rule on the constitutionality of the laws and other legislative acts. Under the Constitution, the Parliamentary Ombudsman for Human Rights was vested with the power to refer matters to the Constitutional Court where the State had interfered with the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. The Constitutional Court was also competent to consider disputes relating to the territorial jurisdiction of the Constitutions of Ukraine and Crimea.
18. Despite all the legislative measures adopted by Ukraine, human rights violations on national or religious grounds and conflicts between national groups did occur at times. The explanation was that, in the past, those in power, in carrying out their anti-religious policy, had caused the destruction of many churches, which had constituted cultural treasures. That had given rise to some animosity between the various religious faiths, which had been prohibited until recently and were competing for the remaining religious sites. In addition, the opening of a Russian school had recently been prohibited in the Kiev region, despite the existence of a substantial Russian community. The complex situation in which Ukraine currently found itself, characterized by hyperinflation and a dramatic drop in the standard of living, was creating tensions which, fired by national, religious and other factors, might give rise to conflicts or human rights violations. The Ukrainian Parliament, President, Government and local authorities were trying to reduce frictions between nationalities, so that, for the time being, Ukraine was free from large-scale open conflict between different groups.
19. Mr. RECHETOV (Country Rapporteur) thanked the Ukrainian authorities for having already submitted a detailed twelfth periodic report, which described the enormous changes in the country since its recent independence. He also noted that, despite the conditions under which the current session had been convened, the Ukrainian authorities had been able to send a high-level delegation headed by Mr. Burchak, one of Ukraine's finest legal specialists.
20. First of all, the report reflected changes which were evidence of Ukraine's intention to break with the past. After reading the report, it became clear that the country had adopted a new political and economic model and was turning its back on a totalitarian past imposed on it and on the other republics of the former USSR. Nevertheless, some of the information provided did not fall within the Committee's competence and should have been submitted to the Human Rights Committee or other bodies. With time, the Ukrainian legal specialists would naturally have a better grasp of the precise scope of the Committee's mandate.
21. He would limit his observations to the twelfth report (CERD/C/226/Add.3) and not spend time on the previous report (CERD/C/197/Add.5), which had also been submitted for the Committee's consideration, since the latter document tended to reflect the past. He noted from part I of the twelfth report, which discussed the initiatives taken by Ukraine at the international level, that Ukraine intended to become a party to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Social Charter and he welcomed that fact. He also noted that Ukraine had recognized the competence of the Committee under article 14 of the Convention. He welcomed the role played by the representatives of Ukraine in the Commission on Human Rights.
22. Page 5 of the report stated that, according to the preamble to the Act on the operation of international treaties on the territory of Ukraine, adopted in 1991, international treaties ratified by Ukraine became an inalienable part of Ukrainian domestic law and were implemented in the manner envisaged for national laws. He therefore requested the Ukrainian delegation to confirm whether the provisions of the Convention were directly applicable. For example, could a Ukrainian judge invoke the Convention during legal proceedings?
23. The demographic information provided on page 5 was not always clear. In future, it would be better to present such information in table form. He noted on page 6 that the number of Jews was decreasing. Yet, the newspaper Izvestia of 20 February 1993 had reported a revival of the Jewish culture, which included a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, whose victims had been of various nationalities, but predominantly Jewish; the creation of Jewish social and cultural organizations in more than 70 Ukrainian towns; the opening of Jewish schools; and the publication of newspapers and production of films in Yiddish. The Academy of Sciences currently had an institute of Jewish culture and an international Salomon University had opened in Kiev. In his view, all those activities deserved support.
24. In respect of the German population of Ukraine, referred to on page 6, he recalled that a plan to transfer Russian Germans to Ukraine had been announced and that President Kravchuk had envisaged the establishment of German colonies on Ukrainian territory. He wished to know whether that plan was being implemented.
25. Part II of the report contained interesting information on articles 2 to 7 of the Convention. He noted with particular interest what had been said about the re-establishment of religious life and the creation of synagogues, Muslim religious centres and Protestant churches. Part II also dealt with the problems of Crimea and the regions bordering on Moldova. In the past, Crimea had been part of Czarist Russia and, in 1944, a large number of Tatars living there had been forced into exile. That was a criminal act, equivalent to genocide, committed on the pretext that the Tatars had collaborated with the German occupants. The exodus had upset the balance of the Crimean demographic structure. So that the Committee could better grasp the breadth of the problem, he requested the Ukrainian delegation to provide demographic data on the size of each population group in Crimea in 1920, 1940 and later years.
26. The report affirmed that Ukraine was pursuing a clear national policy based on respect for human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities and on the recognition of existing borders. One could only endorse such a policy, which should enable the country to solve its problems, including that of Crimea. In his view, Crimea should be recognized as part of Ukraine: any attempt to call that fact into question was potentially dangerous. The desire of the Tatars in Crimea to return to their traditional territory should be respected and any delays, which would have a destabilizing effect, should be avoided. A legal and civilized solution to that problem had to be found; and it had to avoid violence and be based on respect for the rights of the population concerned. He noted that an Act on the status of the Crimean Autonomous Republic had been adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament. He would like to know whether the Ukrainian delegation could provide more details on the content of the Act.
27. Page 12 of the twelfth periodic report of Ukraine also dealt with the problem of the territory of Moldavian Pridnestroyve. That territory had been recognized as part of the Republic of Moldova. However, there were also extremist groups in Pridnestroyve and persons in the Republic of Moldova who were in favour of unification with Romania. If the Republic of Moldova was in future to become part of another State, what effect might that change have on the situation in Pridnestroyve?
28. The position of Ukraine with regard to apartheid was indicated in the section of the report relating to article 3. Still, it would be appropriate to have more detailed information about the country's attitude with regard to the sanctions against South Africa. The issue had lately become a bit ambiguous: it was difficult to know to what extent the international community still endorsed the sanctions or whether it wanted them to be lifted.
29. Article 66 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, cited in connection with article 4 of the Convention, was concerned with disregard of the equality of citizens' rights on the grounds of their race, nationality or attitude to religion. In that respect, the Ukrainian Criminal Code was close to the Russian Criminal Code; however, both instruments were somewhat inadequate by comparison, for example, with the corresponding provisions of the criminal codes of the Nordic countries, which were much more specific and invoked much more frequently. The report mentioned only one case which had given rise to a conviction in Ukraine, in 1990. According to an article he had read in Izvestia, criminal proceedings had been instituted in Kiev in response to the recent dissemination of antisemitic publications. It would be helpful for the Committee to follow that kind of situation closely. The Committee would also like some clarifications on the legislation applicable to organizations which incited racial hatred.
30. In the section of the report dealing with articles 5 and 6, page 18 mentioned that the draft Constitution under consideration provided for the prohibition of all forms of racial discrimination. The report also stated on page 20 that the Act on National Minorities in Ukraine, which had already been adopted, guaranteed those minorities respect for their historical and present-day places of residence. It mentioned that membership in any particular community was a matter of freedom of conscience, which corresponded to the Committee's position on that matter. The Act on National Minorities also guaranteed the cultural autonomy of those minority groups. The Act on Citizenship of Ukraine, referred to on page 23, made the right to citizenship an inalienable human right, proclaiming that no one could be deprived of his citizenship. Under that Act, any person living in Ukraine at the time of the entry into force of the Act, whatever his origin, was a Ukrainian citizen. That provision was entirely in conformity with international law. In respect of dual citizenship, referred to on page 23, he noted that, in the past, the tendency in many countries had been to do away with dual citizenship, but greater tolerance was now the rule. He would nevertheless like to know how that liberal provision was reflected in Ukrainian positive law.
31. He was also aware that Ukraine had long had a liberal tradition with regard to linguistic matters. He had noticed in travelling in the Ukrainian Carpathian region that six or seven languages were spoken there, including Hungarian, Polish and Romanian. A great effort was currently underway to promote the languages spoken in Ukraine; perhaps the Ukrainian delegation could describe that effort by providing details on television, theatre and other programmes offered in the various languages. He hoped that future reports of Ukraine would be even more detailed and that, in the meantime, Ukraine would have overcome its current difficult economic situation and have given further affirmation to its noble civilization, its culture and its respect for human rights.
32. Mr. LECHUGA HEVIA thanked the Ukrainian delegation for its frankness and asked whether Ukraine was in favour of maintaining sanctions against South Africa and whether it had diplomatic relations with that country. Among the 20 or so officially registered political parties, some did not act in practice according to the principles they proclaimed in public; he therefore wished to know whether the discrepancy between words and actions concerned racial discrimination.
33. Mr. BANTON said that the disappearance of the Soviet Union had perhaps sapped the spirit of solidarity, which had provided some protection against nationalism, and that, consequently, certain minorities might feel more threatened than in the past. The Government should therefore pay attention to that problem.
34. Referring to article 2 (1) of the Convention, he said that the policy adopted by a State party with regard to the elimination of racial discrimination should be set down in a clear and comprehensible written document, which should be brought to the attention of the public and of the persons responsible for the implementation of the policy. Furthermore, the Government should ensure that the various State bodies involved in implementing the policy coordinated their activities and did their jobs properly. The policy should be periodically reviewed and changed as necessary.
35. Ukraine should specify in its next report whether the rule of proportionality was respected in various areas. For example, it would be interesting to know whether a minority representing a certain percentage of the total population would receive the same percentage of the total number of scholarships granted in the country.
36. Persons who believed that their rights had been violated and thus applied to the Parliamentary Ombudsman for Human Rights, mentioned in paragraph 2 on page 15 of the report, should have both the support of non-governmental organizations and legal protection so that they would not be subject to reprisals by high-level officials or employers against whom they were bringing a complaint.
37. In respect of article 2 (1) (e) of the Convention, he asked what the Ukrainian Government was doing to encourage integrationist multi-racial organizations and movements. He would also like to know whether it was true that Tatars who had returned to Crimea had been arrested without any grounds and brutalized and that the police and the courts had not taken any measures against such actions.
38. According to the tenth paragraph on page 15, the Procurator's Office was empowered to supervise the lawfulness of acts by officials that affected citizens' rights or freedoms. Would the Procurator's Office intervene if those officials did not take measures they were supposed to take, since that could be as serious as committing an unlawful act?
39. Did the fact that Crimea's Supreme Council had declared the independence of the Republic of Crimea (penultimate para., p.11) mean that the Procurator General of Ukraine had lost any right to monitor the activities of judges in Crimea?
40. Where could citizens obtain information on their rights, on the lawfulness of measures concerning them and on the remedies available to them if a judge had not, in their view, taken the appropriate measures?
41. In conclusion, the Committee would be glad to provide the Ukrainian Government with any information that it might need on action to combat discrimination, as it had already done for other Governments.
42. Mr. de GOUTTES thanked the Ukrainian delegation for its interesting report and the frank way in which it had been drafted. He asked how the Ukrainian Government intended to solve the problem of inter-ethnic tensions in Ukraine, particularly in Crimea where, according to paragraph 11 of the report, separatist forces, the Black Sea fleet and the return of the Tatars posed a number of problems.
43. In respect of the situation in Pridnestrovye, where there was still cause for concern, he asked whether the measures provided for in the agreement concluded in April 1992 between the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Romania and Ukraine had been implemented (last para., p.12 of the report).
44. What efforts had been made by religious leaders and the Ukrainian authorities to lessen interdenominational conflicts, which were sometimes linked to ethnic conflicts (p.10 of the report)?
45. How was it possible that, in 1991, no one had been convicted under article 66 of the Criminal Code relating to disregard of the equality of citizens' rights on the grounds of their race, nationality or attitude to religion (p.16 of the report)? Had complaints been brought? If they had, why had they not led to prosecution? Was the public sufficiently aware of article 66?
46. Mr. van BOVEN congratulated Ukraine on having submitted its twelfth report so quickly, thus providing information on recent changes in the country. While it gave a good picture of the overall situation, the report did not always specify exactly to what extent the Convention was being implemented.
47. The most important issue dealt with was that of nationalities and the danger of ethnic conflicts. The Committee should be giving thought to what it might do to prevent such conflicts. That was a crucial question, as demonstrated by the events taking place in the former Yugoslavia.
48. He wished to know what steps had been taken by the Ukrainian authorities to draw attention to the Convention and to inform the public and legal specialists that Ukraine had recognized the competence of the Committee to receive individual communications, in accordance with article 14 of the Convention.
49. He would also like to know whether Ukraine planned to conclude agreements with other countries on the rights of minorities such as the one it had signed with Hungary in May 1991 (third para., p. 4 of the report).
50. In his view, the three-year limit for the submission of compensation claims by victims of the previous regime was too short (fourth para., p. 7 of the report).
51. He would appreciate more details on the extreme politicization of the religious world (seventh para., p. 9) and on the tensions between the Orthodox Church and the Autocephalous Orthodox Church. How had the definitive settlement of that latter problem been hampered by the economic crisis (eighth para., p. 9)?
52. With regard to relations with South Africa (pp. 13 and 14 of the report), he emphasized that, despite the undeniable changes going on in that country, some of the sanctions imposed by the United Nations on South Africa, including the embargo on weapons and on oil, would continued to be in effect until they had been officially removed; he wished to know whether Ukraine intended to apply them.
53. Turning to article 66 of the new Ukrainian Criminal Code, reproduced on page 16 of the report, he was surprised, as Mr. de Gouttes had been, that no one had been convicted under that article in 1991. It seemed difficult to imagine that not a single act dealt with in that article had been committed.
54. As to relationships between nationalities, he did not believe that an "authoritarian" solution, as seemed to be implied by the use of the words "State control" in the sixth paragraph on page 21 of the report, was appropriate, even though that wording might simply be a problem of translation. Greater emphasis should be placed on dialogue. The State had to help solve those problems; the "advisory bodies" referred to in that paragraph also had an important role to play. Could Ukraine provide more information on the matter?
55. The section of the report dealing with the implementation of article 7 of the Convention was disappointing. He would appreciate knowing what measures were being taken in Ukraine in the areas of teaching, education, culture and information to combat prejudice and racial discrimination; he hoped that the next report of Ukraine would contain information in that regard.
56. Mr. GARVALOV joined the previous speakers in thanking the representative of Ukraine. The two reports under consideration gave a clear picture of the difficult situation in Ukraine as it made the transition to democracy and the comments by the representative of Ukraine had been particularly instructive.
57. The two reports and the presentation had given him an opportunity to think again about the more general issue of minorities, as seen from the viewpoint of the Convention. Was there an accepted definition of the term "minority"? Should there be recognition for national minorities, but not other minorities - ethnic, religious or linguistic? Agreement on such questions was far from unanimous. It was not even clear that the world had fully understood the seriousness of the threat that conflicts and confrontations involving minorities represented for regional, national and international security.
58. He came from a subregion of Europe where ethnic conflicts were a reality. Until recently, official doctrine had held that, through the action of Governments and States, all questions relating to minorities had been settled. As States disintegrated, however, it was clear to all that the doctrine had been flawed and that the problems were still there - and in some cases even worse.
59. The two reports submitted by Ukraine, in conjunction with the statement of the representative of the State party, gave a clear view of future legislation on racial discrimination, but not of current legislation. He was confident that the information would be provided in the next report.
60. In respect of the ethnic composition of the population of Ukraine, both reports mentioned Bulgarians. Paragraph 6 of the eleventh report stated that, according to the population census conducted in 1989, there had been 233,000 Bulgarians in Ukraine at that time. However, the breakdown of schools by language of tuition on page 29 of the twelfth report did not mention any Bulgarian schools or students. Perhaps that had been a technical omission, since the following page referred to the fact that 170 Bulgarian teachers had been trained.
61. Did Ukraine authorize the formation of political parties based on ethnic groups? Such parties were authorized in some European countries and prohibited in others, such as Bulgaria. What was the situation in Ukraine?
62. What was Ukraine's approach with regard to the question of minorities? Did Ukraine recognize the existence of "minorities" or did it merely guarantee the rights of "persons belonging to minorities", as provided for in article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights? Once again, those were highly controversial issues. The Council of Europe was currently considering a draft protocol which defined the meaning of "national minority". Did Ukraine limit itself to recognizing national minorities or did it also recognize the existence of "religious minorities"? In Bulgaria, for example, Catholics represented a religious minority.
63. In his view, in order to apply the principles embodied in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, it was necessary to recognize the existence not only of national minorities, but also of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
64. Mr. SHERIFIS said that he particularly welcomed the willingness shown by Ukraine to engage in a fruitful dialogue with the Committee. Since Ukraine was currently undergoing historic transformations and cataclysmic changes, he wished to know how, in such circumstances, the country was managing to implement the international human rights instruments in general and the Convention in particular. The two reports under consideration (CERD/C/197/Add.5 and CERD/C/226/Add.3) had been drafted on the basis of the guidelines prepared by the Committee and contained a great deal of information; however, some additional clarification was needed. Like other speakers, he found that the twelfth report (CERD/C/226/Add.3) contained more than what was asked of States under the Convention; that was not, however, a reproach.
65. In respect of the composition of the population, he wished to know whether the proportions indicated in paragraph 6 of the eleventh report (CERD/C/197/Add.5), namely, 72.7 per cent Ukrainians and 22 per cent Russians, based on the 1989 census, had remained unchanged. He also wished to know about the rights of individuals belonging to the various ethnic groups; how did those groups take part in the executive and legislative powers; and, if such participation was provided for by law, were there any quotas? The sixth paragraph of page 11 of the twelfth report referred to the "return of Crimean Tatars to their historical homeland"; what was the current situation in that connection?
66. He welcomed the information contained in the last few paragraphs on page 3 of the twelfth report, which related to the strengthening of cooperation between Ukraine and the European countries, Ukraine's acceptance of the principles and its signature of the two documents relating to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and its plan to become a party to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Social Charter. He particularly welcomed the fact that Ukraine had recognized the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications, as provided in article 14 of the Convention. Like Mr. van Boven, however, he wondered exactly what steps Ukraine was taking in the areas of teaching, education, culture and information to combat prejudices which gave rise to racial discrimination and, more generally, to give effect to article 7 of the Convention.