Racism and discrimination in Ukraine

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Ukraine is a multiethnic and multicultural nation^[1][2][3] where racism and ethnic discrimination remain largely a fringe issue ^[4]. However, the recorded incidents of violence where the victim's race is widely thought to have played a role, receive an extensive media coverage and are usually condemned by all mainstream political forces. Human Rights Watch reported that "Racism and xenophobia remain entrenched problems in Ukraine".^[5]

Contents 1 Race discrimination 1.1 Discrimination against Roma 1.2 Discrimination against Jews 1.3 Discrimination against Tatars 2 Language discrimination 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Race discrimination

Racially motivated attacks continue to take place in Ukraine^[6] while police and courts do little to intervene, the Council of Europe said in a report made public February 2008 in Strasbourg.^[7] The report also expressed concern about attacks against rabbis and Jewish students, as well as the vandalism of synagogues, cemeteries and cultural centres. "However, criminal legislation against racially-motivated crimes has not been strengthened and the authorities have not yet adopted a comprehensive body of civil and administrative anti-discrimination laws," the body said. "There have been very few prosecutions against people who make anti-Semitic statements or publish anti-Semitic literature." Discrimination against the Roma community, continuing anti-Semitism, violence in Crimea^[8][9] and other acts of intolerance against various ethnic groups in Ukraine were singled out in the report by the Council of Europe's racism-monitoring body, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance.^[10] Skinhead violence against Tartars and Jews is also frequent and police have offered little protection to the different communities, it said. And ECRI asked Ukrainian authorities to step up efforts to fight violence by skinheads against Africans, Asians, and people from the Caucasus and the Middle East^[11] For instance: in December 2006 racist attacks on foreign students have been reported by the Council of Europe. The council stated that students where reluctant to report attacks because of police response to these attacks seemed to be inadequate.^[7] Many of these incidents are conducted by "skinheads" or neo-Nazis in Kiev, but similar crimes have also been reported throughout the country. In addition to incidents of assault, persons of African or Asian heritage may be subject to various types of harassment, such as being stopped on the street by both civilians and law enforcement officials. Individuals belonging to religious minorities have also been harassed and assaulted in Kiev and throughout Ukraine^[12].

Ukraine still does not have well established movements against illegal immigration or certain ethnic groups that are common in other former Soviet states. As a European country Ukraine is prone to outside influence from the neo-nazi and supremacist movements beyond its borders. For example, in areas of Southern Ukraine that have closer cultural and linguistic ties with Russia a number of neo-nazi groups resemble those in neighbouring Russia. ^[4]

Representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Members of Ukrainian parliament stated that discrimination views and antisocial attitudes are practiced by a minority of the population, by fringe organizations and most alarmingly by younger generation of Ukrainians^[13]. The fact that during the 2007 parliamentary elections the right wing parties espousing xenophobic and racist ideology received very little support from the electorate also points to the unpopularity of such ideas among general population.^[4]

[edit] Discrimination against Roma

The country's estimated 400,000 Roma people (government figures were 47,600) faces both governmental and societal discrimination. In October 2006 the European Roma Rights Center complained to the UN Human Rights Committee about violence against Roma in the country, racial targeting and profiling by police against Roma, discrimination in social programs and employment against Roma, and the widespread lack of necessary documentation for Roma to enjoy access to social services and protections. In many areas of the country, poverty often forced Romani families to withdraw their children from school. There were numerous reports of Roma being evicted from housing, removed from public transportation, denied public assistance, kicked out of stores, and denied proper medical treatment. According to the Roma Congress of Ukraine, the findings of the 2003 national study on social integration of Roma remain current: only 38 percent of Roma are economically active, 21 percent have permanent employment, and 5 percent have temporary employment, mainly seasonal jobs. Representatives of Romani and other minority groups claimed that police officials routinely ignored, and sometimes abetted, violence against them.

There were some reports that the government was addressing the longstanding problems faced by the Romani community. For example, the Chirikli fund reported in fall 2006 that a court in Odesa reviewed its complaint against a school director who refused to admit a Romani child to school. The court refused to review claims of discrimination but the case was still under review for possible administrative violations as of December. A court in Donetsk refused to accept a similar complaint.^[14]

[edit] Discrimination against Jews

As of April 2008, in total, 100 hate crimes were committed since January 2007. One of every five hate crimes in Ukraine since the start of last year was against the Jewish community, the country's security police reported.^[15]

Numerous anti-Semitic attacks were reported in 2005, but police have been reluctant to label the incidents as hate crimes.^[5] Attacks on ethnic minorities are occurring in Ukraine at a record pace, according to the Union of Councils for the Jews in the Former Soviet Union.^[15]

[edit] Discrimination against Tatars

In Crimea, native Tatars feel discriminated due to lack of lands.^[16] Conflicts between Tatars and their Slavic neighbors in recent years has led to massed fist fights, vandalizing graveyards and even murders. Ukrainian government is slow in acknowledging the tensions.^[17] Crimean Tatars asserted that discrimination by mainly ethnic Russian officials in Crimea deprived them of employment in local administrations and that propaganda campaigns, particularly by Russian Cossacks, promoted hostility against them among other inhabitants of Crimea.^[18]

[edit] Language discrimination

The state language policies, labeled by opponents as Ukrainization, are considered in particular by some ethnic Russians to be discriminatory against Russian language^[19]. Romanians in Ukraine as well as some other smaller minorities also raised similar concerns. However, the post-Soviet developments in Ukraine lacked most of the controversies that surrounded the language policies in several of the other former Soviet Republics^[20][21] and the concerns being raised usually amount to the complaints on the language policies rather than the state-sponsored ethnic-based discrimination. According to a 2007 country-wide survey by the Institute of Sociology only 0.5 % of the respondents describe as belonging to a group that faces discrimination by language.^[22]

The ultra-right nationalist political party Svoboda,^[23] marginal on the national scale,^[24] often invokes the radical Russophobic rhetoric. Deputies from the party were elected to several municipal and provincial local councils in Western Ukraine.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Racism by country
• Demographics of Ukraine
• LGBT rights in Ukraine

v • d • e Racism History of racism Apartheid • The Holocaust • Racism in the United States • Anti-racism • Civil rights movement Racist ideologies White supremacy • Black supremacy • Social Darwinism • Nazism • Aryanism Acts of racism Institutional racism • State racism • Racial profiling • Racism by country • Hate speech • Racial segregation • Stereotype • Scientific racism • Slavery • Crime of apartheid Racial violence Ethnic cleansing • Hate crime • Race war • Genocide • Lynching Racism against groups Native Americans • Arabs • Armenians • Blacks • Chinese • Iranians • Irish • Italians • Japanese • Jews • Mexicans • Poles • Roma people • South Asians • East Asians • Whites Racist groups Ku Klux Klan • Neo-Nazis • Grey Wolves • South African National Party • Nation of Islam Anti-racist groups and movements NAACP • Anti-Defamation League • Anti-Fascist Action • Civil Rights Movement • Southern Poverty Law Center • Searchlight