Democracy Watch – Issue 10
Democracy Watch – Issue 10
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Home Page > News and Society > Politics > Democracy Watch – Issue 10
Democracy Watch – Issue 10
Posted: Oct 20, 2010 |Comments: 0
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Democracy Watch – Issue 10
By: Katerina84
About the Author
Viktor Tkachuk
(ArticlesBase SC #3513039)
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Democracy Watch – Issue 10
Ukraine is №1… almost
Ukraine has almost reached top of the leader board for the number of appeals lodged at the European Court of Human Rights. The Parliamentary ombudsman on human rights Nina Karpachova expressed her concern over the situation, but noted that Ukraine is still only in third place, piped at the post by Russia and Turkey. The endemic failure of judicial system in Ukraine to dispense justice is worthy of special attention. The scale of the problem is clear to see, in Ukraine, there is one appeal to the European Court of Human Rights per 10,000 people, whilst in other European countries it is one per 100,000 people.
Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, speaking at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Legal Sciences, said that the number of legal cases referred to the European Court of Human Rights in 1993 was 59, by 2000 it had risen to 10,500 and by August 2010 it had topped 129,650. 39% of appeals were concerning violations of the right to a fair trial, 28% for the violation of property rights, and 13% for delays in due process at local courts. Clearly the people of Ukraine do not trust their court system, which many believe to be totally corrupt. In truth, the Ukrainian courts have shown consistent incompetence in the administration of justice, the volume of appeals is simply another illustration.
People First Comment:If ever there was a more graphic illustration of the plight of Ukraine this is it. Corruption is now so endemic that the people and the state authorities can no longer administer justice within Ukraine’s own borders. How entirely predictable… after all if 450 deputies can live outside the law, if the entire governmental, judicial and senior business systems think that justice can bought and sold like chocolate bars and must be accountable to the executive power or the governing party, then it was entirely predictable that the people would eventually resort to more civilised European alternatives. This is an international disgrace but nothing is going to change until the people of Ukraine realise that justice in modern democracies doesn’t work this way.
Ukraine is equal first in the lack of charity
According to the charity world rankings, published by the British humanitarian organization “Charities Aid Foundation”, Ukraine ranks in equal last place in the world of charity. The ranking, prepared by the international research company Gallup measured philanthropy across more than 150 countries. Ukraine shares bottom place with Burundi and Madagascar. Only 5% of the Ukrainian population donate money to charity, which is one of the lowest in the world, only 14% engage in voluntary charitable work and only 19% help their neighbours.
According to experts, the legal and regulatory framework for philanthropy in Ukraine is obsolete, as most of the laws, developed by the tax services in the 1990′s, actually inhibit the development of charity and patronage. The laws concerning the regulation of charities are equally obsolete. In practice, more than 78% of Ukrainians live below the poverty line and many need charity, especially those most vulnerable including the elderly, orphaned children, the sick and those that cannot afford education, but in reality barely 20% receive it.
People First Comment: Charity in any country is predicated on two things: a stable and growing economy and a developing middle class. For a long time now Ukraine has had neither and charity has been mostly the privilege of the wealthy. Ukraine’s charity legislation dates back the soviet principal of ‘cradle to the grave’ employment where the employer took ‘care’ of all their workers’ needs. Whilst the nation has changed the legislation has not. Successive governments have failed to understand is that in a flourishing charities environment the cost of social services actually falls whilst the standards of care improve. The state can only provide the most basic of care as is amply demonstrated all over Ukraine. A properly regulated charities environment allows those who wish to contribute to give as much or as little as they can afford to which ever charity they choose.
First there needs to be proper legislation to regulate the organization of charitable entities, controlled by a ‘Charities Commission’ who not only ensure that the charity is working in the public interest but that the public money they spend is in accordance with both their statute and the law. The tax laws need to be amended to allow companies to make tax free corporate donations to registered charities and the charities themselves need to be more professionally run to attract corporate philanthropy. Finally Ukrainians themselves need to understand that what they do for those less fortunate is one of the primary measures of a civilised society and politicians and party leaders need to recognise that charity is not a washing machine for their conscience or reputation but a way to help those in real need.
American Ukrainians refuse to meet the President
In protest at the Ukrainian authority’s refusal to demonstrate a progressive attitude towards democracy, transparency and accountability in Ukraine, the United Ukrainian American community defiantly refused a personal invitation to meet the President of Ukraine on his recent visit to the USA. Their justification was detailed in an open letter from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America to the President where they expressed their belief that the internal and foreign policies laid out by President Yanukovych are profoundly un-Ukrainian. Their key grievances being: the refusal to accept the Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people, the attacks on historians by the Ukrainian Security Services, the appointment of a pro-Russian figure to the post of head of the Institute of National Remembrance, and the presidential support of Education Minister Dmitry Tabachnyk, who has gone on record with distinctly anti-Ukrainian statements. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs tried unsuccessfully to deny the existence of any grievances between the American Diaspora community and the President.
People First Comment:This is not the first timethat the American Ukrainian Diaspora have expressed their disapproval of government executives and policy. In 2006, at the Ukrainian trade fair in Chicago, Dmitry Tabachnyk was delighted to see some 70 journalists at his press conference, that is until he got up to speak. 30 of the journalists stood up and took off their jackets to reveal yellow ‘T’ shirts bearing the slogan ‘Tabachnyk, shame on you’. Later he angrily demanded to know why they had been let in, only to be told that… America is a free country.
We are likely to see even more such protests from the Ukrainian Diaspora communities from around the world as modern Ukrainian politics attempts to turn the clock back to the 1980′s. If the governing authorities think they are going to be able to return Ukraine to a one party soviet-styled state without howls of protest then they have learned nothing from history. Some may equally protest that the Diaspora communities should show more respect to the Head of State, but respect cannot be bought… it comes only after an acknowledgement of their responsibilities to the people.
The Ukrainian police flex their power of impunity
Cases of Ukrainian people being beaten to death by Ukrainian policemen are on the rise. The brutality befalls not only journalists, but increasingly citizens from all walks of life. Recent cases include a well reported attack on a popular Donetsk journalist. In a letter to the President, the Chief-editor of the ‘Delovoy Donbass’ newspaper personally expressed his regret that he could not provided proper protection for himself and his family.
The event with the most recent public resonance however was the murder of student Ihor Indyla in the Shevchenko police district in Kyiv. The investigation into his death is still underway and those guilty of the murder have yet to be apprehended. This is not the first time that this central Kyiv police station has witnessed such incidents. In July 2008 Tymur Fedus was beaten in a cell and subsequently died of his injuries, two years later the inquiry into this case also remains ‘underway’. Other cases of police brutality that have resulted in the death of innocent people have occurred in Dnipropetrovs’k and in Lviv. The Ministry of Internal Affairs appears either unwilling or incapable of prosecuting those responsible even after the Administration of the President has demanded specific action and results.
People First Comment:Unfortunately police brutality has become something of a sport in Ukraine. Officers whose role is to protect the people now feel they have the power to abuse them at will. There are three possible explanations. First, that this is just another example of the degradation of Ukrainian society that has resulted from the general breakdown of the rule of law. Secondly, that like the crackdown on journalism and civil society it is a return to the bad old days of a society controlled by fear, or thirdly, that the militia has been infected with criminality that is getting out of control.
Which ever is the case, the solution is simple. There is no such thing as bad soldiers, only bad officers. It is the duty of every officer to ensure discipline within his command and if they can’t, they should step aside. It is the duty of every militia officer to protect society even if that means ‘ratting’ on his colleagues and it is the duty of every prosecutor to ensure that the guilty face justice, no matter their rank, status or position. If any of the above fail in their duty then they are as guilty as those who kicked and punched these innocent people to their deaths. Ukraine is a civilized country and civilized people will not tolerate such barbarity or injustice.
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(ArticlesBase SC #3513039)
Katerina84 -
About the Author:
Viktor Tkachuk
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Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/democracy-watch-issue-10-3513039.html
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